


The Romance Potion

by FanofBttf



Category: Back to the Future (Movies)
Genre: F/M, Falling In Love, First Kiss, Incest, Love Potion/Spell, Parent/Child Incest, Time Travel, being his own father
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-10-24
Updated: 2015-11-12
Packaged: 2017-12-30 07:38:14
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 16
Words: 33,155
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1015909
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/FanofBttf/pseuds/FanofBttf
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>All right, this is a work with a silly title that is about Marty and Lorraine falling in love, and staying in love, with all the consequences which that brings. I just thought I'd say so right away. It involves Marty breaking up with Jennifer, a kind-of-silly love potion that is still the most plausible way for us to have Marty/Lorraine, and George and Lorraine never getting together at all. Oh, and that's about it.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Prologue, Part I

**Author's Note:**

> This is the first chapter - or rather, the first part of the prologue, which is going to take place in 1985. Then we're going to skip some parts of the movie that aren't significant for the story I'm writing here, and then resume the pace in 1955... anyway, you'll find out. Constructive reviews are encouraged.

**Prologue #1**

_October 24, 1985_  
 _09:30 PM PDT_  
 _Hill Valley, California_

“…you feel the power of lo-ove, feel the power of love!”  
Jennifer Parker smiled at Marty, as he finished the song striking and holding a chord on his guitar. He then walked off the stage towards her, beaming. “What did you think?”  
“You were great, Marty” Jennifer complimented. “You’re going to amaze everyone tomorrow at the audition.”  
“The band and I are going to amaze everyone, you mean” Marty pointed out, waving at the other members of the Pinheads as they, too, got off-stage and walked over to the rack to put on their jackets. “It’s all team work, you know.”  
“You’re right at that one, Marty” Henry Johnson said, walking up to them. “Say, would you two mind another drink with a snack? I love the food they serve out here. It may not be Elmo’s Ribs, but it’s good too, and it’s much cheaper.”  
“Sure, why not?” Marty replied, grinning. “We do have something to celebrate, after all.”  
“I don’t know, Marty” Jennifer said, nervously. “Dad’s coming home tonight, and, well, I haven’t seen him in two weeks. He’s off for his work so much… Also, Mom said she’d like it if I were there.”  
“Well, he’ll be there again tomorrow, won’t he?” Marty said. “You did tell me your father would come home, but he’ll still be there tomorrow, and Saturday – plenty of time to speak with him then.”  
“There’s no need to pressure her, Marty” Henry said. “We’d understand if she couldn’t come…”  
“I guess so, but I really want her to be with us” Marty replied. “I’d hate to see you miss tonight, Jen. I wouldn’t be really happy either if you wouldn’t be there. Come on, Jennifer. It won’t take long, I promise.”  
Jennifer pondered that. For a moment, she thought of turning Marty’s offer down. He was fairly insistent, but she was sure he’d understand if she left. They’d still have the opportunity to talk when they went to the lake tomorrow evening, after all.  
On the other hand, Jennifer figured, there wasn’t really any reason why she wouldn’t go. After all, the idea of some snacks and chatting with Marty and his friends did appeal more to her than talking to her Dad, who, as Marty said, would still be there tomorrow, so would it matter if it took a little longer than expected? And what did she have to lose? She smiled. “All right, then. But let’s make it quick, okay?”  
Marty grinned. “It won’t take more than a quarter.” 

oooooooo

But as it turned out, Marty McFly wasn’t the best at taking estimates. It wound up taking another two hours before she and Marty left. Because, as it turned out, Marty managed to persuade her every time to take another snack. To wait for the next round of drinks. It was nearly midnight when she approached her parents’ home.  
If she had hoped to walk in unnoticed, then her hopes would be discarded the moment she got past the porch. She heard noise in the room, loud voices chattering, and she’d barely hung her cape on the rack when her father appeared in the hallway, looking at her with not so much anger as concern in his eyes.  
“You’re late” Robert Parker said, staring at her. “Do you know how long we’ve been worrying about you?”  
Jennifer sighed, only now realizing how long she’d really been away – and not only that, but tomorrow was a school day, after all. “I’m sorry, Dad” she said. “It’s just that Marty…”  
“Marty!” Robert shouted, clearly frustrated. “It’s always that kid’s fault, isn’t it? Why couldn’t he take you out some time earlier in the day?”  
Jennifer was surprised at her father’s outburst. “Well, he had agreed to rehearse in the evening, and I had agreed to be there” she explained. “Of course, part of that was because he spent time in detention today and thus couldn’t rehearse earlier. It was his third tardy slip this morning.”  
Robert sighed. “Jennifer, why are you still hanging around with that boy? You’re 17… you should have a responsible boyfriend, not one who keeps getting tardy slips. You do want a nice marriage later, don’t you? A happy life? That’ll only happen if you – and your future husband – work hard now.”  
Jennifer sighed in return. “Come on, Dad” she replied. “I’m not planning to marry Marty. He’s just my boyfriend, and marriage is the last thing we’d talk about right now. And Marty isn’t really all that irresponsible. He’s just got a problem with time.”  
“That’s exactly what I mean” her father said. “It may look innocent now, but over time, that tendency to get to appointments late, having no control over time, that will break him up. If he really wants to be a musician, he should know that there are many people out there with the same wish, and one missed appointment could mean the end of his career – for him so many others. Jennifer, I don’t want to berate you or mind your business. Marty is a nice guy, yes, but I’m not sure how much you’ll care about that if he ends up getting you stuck in a miserable life without prospects for the future.”  
“Robert…” Marlene, her mother, warned.  
“I know, Marlene, but I thought this needed to be said” Robert said. “I don’t hate your boyfriend, Jennifer, but I think you should have some serious conversation with him about this.”  
“I guess you’re right” Jennifer mumbled. “Marty _is_ kind of irresponsible sometimes. But I tried to talk to him about that last Tuesday, and he wouldn’t listen. We got into an argument about it, even. We patched things up later, but…”  
“Well, just try” Robert said, firmly. “You never know what’ll happen unless you try. Talk to him tomorrow. Even if he wards you off, insist on talking to him. You’re going to the lake with Marty this weekend, and you should have some common sense drilled into the guy beforehand.”  
Jennifer frowned. “Marty does have common sense, you know” she muttered.  
“I realize that” Robert replied, realizing he’d inadvertently offended her. “That was an exaggeration. But you get the main point, don’t you?”  
“I suppose” Jennifer said. “Okay, I’ll try to talk to Marty. But what if we get into a fight again?”  
Robert smiled faintly. “You’ll never get anywhere without taking risks, Jennifer” he said. “Remember that. This is something that needs to be done.”  
Jennifer nodded, and turned to the stairs to head to her bedroom. Her father could be a bit strict sometimes, but he did have a point. She should talk to Marty. After all, what could go wrong? 

oooooooo

Jennifer looked at her watch impatiently. The school had already began, and still Marty hadn’t showed up yet. And now, she’d seen Strickland look for him. “Come on, Marty” she muttered. “You don’t need to keep me waiting this long…”  
Just then, Marty arrived on his skateboard. Jennifer rushed up to meet him. “Marty, don’t go this way” she urged. “Strickland’s looking for you. If you get caught, it’ll be four tardies in a row.”  
Marty winced at that, knowing what it meant. “Detention” he muttered.  
“Exactly” Jennifer replied, running towards the side entry with him. They headed through the corridor and Jennifer peaked around it. “All right, come on” she said. “I think we’re safe.”  
“This time it wasn’t my fault” Marty started.  
Jennifer sighed at that point. She’d heard it before. “You know, Marty, we really need to talk about that.”  
“You can do that later, miss Parker” Strickland said, appearing out of a side corridor. “Tardy slip for you. And one for you, McFly, I think that makes four in a row.”  
Although Marty took the slip with some wariness, Jennifer didn’t feel all that good about it. Her parents weren’t going to be happy with this for sure. Of course, she didn’t have to tell them… but somewhere, she felt as if that wasn’t right.  
“Let me give you a nickel’s worth of free advice, young man” Strickland continued. “You should stop hanging around this so-called Doctor Brown you frequently visit. He’s dangerous, he’s a real nutcase. You’re already a slacker and you don’t need to make it any worse. You hang around with him, you’re going to end up in big trouble.”  
“Oh yes sir” Marty replied.  
Strickland gave Marty a shove. “You’ve got a real attitude problem, McFly, you’re a slacker! You remind me of your father when he went here, he was a slacker too.”  
“Can I go now, Mr. Strickland?” Marty tried.  
Strickland acted as if he hadn’t heard it. “I noticed your band is on the roster for the dance auditions after school today. Why even bother, McFly, you don’t have a chance, you’re too much like your old man. No McFly ever amounted to anything in the history of Hill Valley!”  
“Well history is gonna change” Marty quipped. As Strickland just stared at him, he walked off. Jennifer stared for a moment at the principal, then rushed up to meet him.  
“Marty, we need to talk” she said. “There’s something I…”  
“Not now, Jen” Marty replied. “Come on, we need to get to class. I thought you were the studious one – so why are you still lagging here?”  
For a moment, Jennifer felt anger at her boyfriend. _She_ wasn’t the one who had gotten them into this! If it had depended on her, she would have been on time. But Marty somehow seemed to be oblivious to that. She was lucky she hadn’t been caught before sneaking Marty in, but now she had. This was going to be hard to explain to her parents. Especially after the talk they had last night.  
She was about to mention it to Marty, when she noticed that he’d already left. Jennifer sighed. They’d have to talk about this after school.


	2. Prologue Part II

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warning: this chapter can be kind of harsh. But it's very much necessary for the rest of the story.

**Prologue #2**

_October 25, 1985_   
_03:30 PM PDT_   
_Hill Valley, California_

As it turned out, Jennifer was mostly right on her prediction. Although she and Marty shared several classes, they didn’t have the time to sit down for anything resembling the talk she wanted. After school (waiting patiently for Marty to finish detention) Jennifer accompanied him to the dance auditions; and at that point, they were cutting it close already. There was no time to talk.   
Marty and Jennifer had both held high hopes for the audition, Marty especially. He had prepared for it for several weeks, together with the band, and Jennifer had seen enough practices to recognize their potential. However, the Pinheads had barely started their song – when Huey Lewis’ look-alike stood up. “Hold it. Hold it fellows. I’m afraid you’re just too darn loud.”   
Jennifer recognized that this was crushing, and her initial reaction was to feel sorry for Marty. The second reaction, however, was a memory activating – the one of her father telling her just exactly what he thought might happen to Marty in the future. _One missed appointment could mean the end of his career – for him so many others._ And now, it wasn’t even an appointment he’d missed. He’d been rejected. The thought of living with a Marty who kept pursuing a hopeless musical dream flashed before Jennifer’s eyes, and she didn’t like it.   
Marty, however, didn’t seem dead-set on pursuing hopeless dreams. Actually, he was the contrary. “I can’t believe it” were the first words he said to her. “They rejected me. I’ll never play for anybody again.”   
“Marty, one rejection isn’t the end of the world” Jennifer patiently told him, as they walked towards the Courthouse Square.   
“Nah, I don’t think I’m cut out for music” Marty muttered.   
“Have a little confidence!” Jennifer urged him. “You can’t be that depressed.”   
Marty chuckled. “I know” he mumbled. “I’m starting to sound like my old man. But I wouldn’t know what to do. Everyone will reject the audition tape I made. I might as well not send it in to anyone.”   
Jennifer sighed, knowing all too well what Marty’s family life was like. Marty’s mother, Lorraine, drank excessively and disapproved of her, and at least part of that was due to George McFly’s characteristic wimpiness. If there was one thing she didn’t want Marty to become…   
“Marty, I talked to my Dad about this last night” Jennifer said. “We think you should try to go into another direction. Focus a little more on your school work. Try to make appointments. If you work hard, you might accomplish more than you think – and you’ll have job prospects even if you don’t make it in the music business.”   
“Too loud” Marty muttered.   
Annoyed that he wasn’t listening, Jennifer continued. “I mean it, Marty. Please pay attention to what I am saying. If you’ll just take a confident and ambitious approach, like Doctor Brown’s always told you, but a _realistic_ one mixed in with it, then you might get much further. Then you might not end up like your parents, and like your brother and sister.”   
“They rejected me” Marty simply said. Jennifer realized he still wasn’t paying attention.   
“Marty!” she exclaimed. “Do you hear what I’m saying?”   
“I don’t care” Marty muttered. “If I can’t become a musician, I don’t know what else I’d do. Music is… my life…”   
Jennifer frowned at his sudden change of tone, and then noticed he was ogling a pair of girls who had just walked past them and were now sending smiles towards him. “Well, that’s the limit!”   
“Huh?” Marty mumbled, not turning back.   
Jennifer roughly pulled Marty around. “I’m here, Marty! I’m talking to you and you’re staring at some other girls?”   
“What’s wrong with you!” Marty called out, pushing her away as she roughly tried to seize his arm. Only he pushed a little too hard. Jennifer tripped over a loose stone and fell backwards.   
“Jennifer!” Marty shouted, staring at her with horror. “Are you okay?”   
The girl got back up, glaring at him. “Yeah, no thanks to you” she muttered. “What do you think you’re doing, shoving me onto the ground like that?” She gave him a shove in return.   
“It was an accident!” Marty exclaimed, shoving her back. “Lighten up, will you! You’re acting just like my mom!”   
“And you’re acting like a child!” Jennifer snapped. “You shouldn’t spend time moping about that dumb audition, you should try to make something out of yourself!”   
“I’ll do whatever I like!” Marty snapped back. “I don’t need you to determine what I want, miss goody-two shoes!”   
“Ah!” Jennifer said. “So that’s why you were staring at those girls! You were fed up with me, weren’t you?”   
“That’s a lie, Jennifer Parker, and you know it!” Marty exclaimed.   
“Oh yeah?” Jennifer replied. “I _used_ to know it, yeah, but I’m not exactly used to you keeping any other appointments we’ve made either! You always show up late at our dates, you’re sloppy at your school work, you simply don’t pay attention to what people say to you, including me… who’s to say you don’t have another girlfriend behind my back?”   
“That’s insane” Marty muttered, glaring at her. “I’d never cheat on you!”   
“Oh no?” Jennifer said. “Because you sure don’t seem to appreciate my company! But if that’s how it’s going to be for you, then let me show you what that’s like!”   
“What do you mean?” Marty asked.   
“I mean that we should not see each other anymore, at least for a while” Jennifer said. “Maybe that’ll teach you a lesson!”   
“You mean you’re breaking up with me?” Marty replied, horrified.   
“At last it’s getting through your thick skull!” Jennifer hissed. “That’s right! Perhaps that’ll learn you a thing or two about responsibility, Martin Seamus McFly!”   
With that, she walked off. Marty tried to follow her, but just then she saw her Dad’s car approaching. She ran towards him and headed inside.   
“Are you all right?” her father asked, puzzled.   
“Yeah” Jennifer muttered, tears in her eyes. “I’m fine.” 

oooooooo

Marty stared after the Parker car with his shoes almost glued to the ground. He didn’t want to move. He didn’t want to do anything. Anything that could acknowledge what had just happened. Jennifer had left him.   
It had happened so sudden that he was still shaking on his feet. Yes, he’d had an argument with her, and perhaps he had acted a bit stubbornly – but he’d never expected Jennifer to break up over that! He felt like crying…   
“Save the clocktower!” a woman’s voice suddenly shouted nearby him.   
“Excuse me, lady, I’m a bit misera…” Marty tried, as politely as possible.   
“Mayor Wilson is sponsoring an initiative to replace that clock” the woman droned on, oblivious to his peril. “Thirty years ago, lightning struck that clock tower and it hasn’t run since. We at the Hill Valley Preservation Society think it should be…”   
“Here’s a quarter” Marty cut her off, hoping that would convince her to leave him alone.   
“Thanks” the woman replied. “Here’s a flyer.”   
Marty took it and stared after her, then crumbling it and putting it into his pocket as he remembered the incident with Jennifer. It just felt too painful.   
“I’d better just go home” he muttered, depressed. He stepped on his skateboard, and caught onto the back of a car. Holding onto the car, he started car surfing towards the McFly house. 

oooooooo

Marty arrived at home in a bad mood, which was amplified as soon as he saw the car outside. Finding out Biff had wrecked it – predictably – ruined his emotions even more. He sat out the family dinner, during which his mother recounted once again how she and his father had met, and how he, too, would meet the right girl one day.   
That was one thing that angered him – his mother insisted that not only would he meet another girl, but that this had been a good thing. He supposed he understood that – his mother had always disliked Jennifer – but he hated the fact that she was so vocal about it. His father and siblings were downright apathetic. With no prospects for the future except the experiment at Doc’s, he went to his room relatively early, playing the guitar miserably while occasionally listening to some Huey Lewis music. 

oooooooo

Jennifer, on the other hand, felt initially quite relieved at having left Marty behind. However, it didn’t take long before it started to nag inside her. She had said some nasty things to Marty. Things she shouldn’t have said. Sure, Marty had made some mistakes during their conversation too and that had really annoyed her, but that hadn’t given her the right to shout to him.   
She realized that perhaps, she had been a little too harsh on Marty. Jennifer knew her boyfriend’s nature just happened to be a bit irresponsible, and if that was how he was like, then she would have a hard time changing it. She could only accept it as a fact. Accepting, after all, was the first step to solving the problem.   
Well, that wasn’t entirely the case. Making up with Marty would be the first step to solving the problem. After musing about this for several hours, she finally decided to phone Marty from her grandmother’s address at 10 PM.   
It took just a few seconds before the phone was answered. “Lorraine McFly here.”   
Jennifer winced. She didn’t like Marty’s mother, mostly because the woman seemed to have an unreasonable dislike of her. Nevertheless, she couldn’t very well lie to her. “This is Jennifer Parker” she said. “I’d like to speak to Marty.”   
“Jennifer” Lorraine responded. “What do you want? I thought you broke up with him.”   
Jennifer almost bit her tongue to avoid herself from lashing out against the woman. The denigrating tone… “I want to apologize” she said.   
“Too late” Lorraine simply responded. “You’ve had your chance. My son doesn’t need a girl who calls a boy or kisses him in public. Goodbye.” With that, she hung up.   
Jennifer sat down, sighing. Why did Marty’s mom have to be so stubborn? Well, she guessed that there was nothing she could do about it right now. She’d be better off waiting for tomorrow. Then, she could come over and have a long talk with Marty himself.   
After all, what harm could one night of waiting do? 

oooooooo

Marty blinked, as he heard the phone ring. He felt very tired, for some reason – where was he? Had he fallen asleep?   
The phone rang again. Yawning, Marty picked it up. “Hello?”   
“Marty, you didn’t fall asleep, did you?” Doc’s voice sounded, clearly recognizable.   
“Uh, no… no, don’t be silly” Marty replied.   
“Good” Doc said. “Listen, this is very important. I forgot my video camera, can you pick it up on your way to the mall?”   
“All right” Marty muttered.   
He could almost hear the scientist frown. “Marty, is something wrong? You sound depressed.”   
“No, I’m fine” Marty lied. “I’ll be with you in a minute.”   
“Good” Doc said. “Don’t forget, 1:15 AM, Twin Pines Mall!”   
“I won’t” Marty promised, putting down the horn. He sighed, as he stood up from the bed. Perhaps whatever experiment Doc was planning would keep his mind off Jennifer and their horrible break-up. “A nice little distraction” he muttered to himself. “What I wouldn’t give for that. I just hope it’s effective.”


	3. Ideas For Fixing Things

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> All right, first regular chapter. I understand that Marty is engaging in acts that aren't really appropriate, but he's desperate, you know? And so is Doc, because as long as Marty doesn't stop moping over Jennifer, he can't do his work on getting his parents together properly.

**1: Chapter One**

_November 9, 1955_   
_03:30 PM PDT_   
_Hill Valley, California_

_“A nice little distraction” he muttered to himself. “What I wouldn’t give for that. I just hope it’s effective.”_  
Marty half-chuckled, replaying those words which he had said some time ago in his mind. If only he’d known at the time how effective it would be, he would have never gone to the mall. The stress he’d experienced in the past five days was enough to last him a lifetime.   
At the mall, Doc had been willing to provide a listening ear, but had insisted that they finish his invention first – since he had been nervous for some reason, Marty had agreed, warily. He wasn’t so wary anymore, though, when Doc’s new DeLorean had vanished into thin air. The concept of a time machine had impressed even the heartbroken teenager, and he had even gotten the idea in his head to use it to go back in time and prevent that afternoon from ever happening.   
Before he could do so much as voice that thought to Doc – who likely wouldn’t have listened, as his mind was fully on going to the future – Libyan terrorists had shown up, shooting his best friend and sending him on a wild chase that ended with him in 1955. After a day of mad experiences, he had ended up at Doc’s mansion. Young Doc had managed to devise a way to get him home from the flyer Marty had received from the clock tower lady. Marty hadn’t realized the potential at first – he’d only shown Doc the flyer because, after Marty’s ongoing pleas to ‘at least try something’ the inventor had asked him to show whatever future technology had on him, and he had just decided to empty his pockets. When he did realize it, though, he was ecstatic.   
And then, it turned out that all was not solved yet, for he had caused an enormous change to the space-time continuum, or something like that. By pushing his father out of the way of Grandpa Baines’ car, he and mom had never met. With his own existence threatened, Marty had been forced to go to school and get his parents together. That had failed, and only after a firm brainstorm and a space alien act had he been able to convince his father to ask his mom out.   
Unfortunately, Biff Tannen had interfered right in the middle of that, he had to save George and then himself, and before he’d known it Lorraine had persuaded him to ask her to the dance. Now, he found himself forced to coach nervous George McFly to rescue her from a fake assault. And in the middle of it, he had broken down and returned home. He just couldn’t do it anymore. And now he was here – back in the Brown garage, with an angry Doc staring at him.   
“Marty, you need to coach him” the inventor said. “You told me he’s terrified. He won’t get through with this unless you help him. You want to be secure of your existence, don’t you?”   
“Of course I do” Marty muttered. “It’s just that… I can’t. I kept telling George how beautiful Lorraine is, and because of it I kept thinking of Jennifer. So, in the middle of that, I broke down.” The teenager stared at his friend. “I can’t do it. I cannot coach another guy – even if it’s my Dad – to take a girl – even if it’s my Mom – out when I’m still mourning over my own girl.”   
Doc sighed, and sat down opposite his friend. “Marty…” he muttered. “You know I can’t do anything about this. I’m not a medical doctor, after all, and I can’t take you to one in 1955. And even if I could, I doubt they could cure lovesickness.”   
“I don’t want a doctor, either” Marty insisted. “I want Jennifer back. I want something… something to make her come back to me.” He smirked. “But I don’t suppose you could conduct a love potion of some sorts…”   
Doc frowned. “What did you just say?”   
“I said, ‘I don’t suppose you could conduct a love potion of some sorts’” Marty said, puzzled. “Of course, you’re an inventor, but I doubt you’d ever dabble in that kind of stuff. If it’s even possible.”   
“It just might be” Doc muttered, softly. “You’re right, Marty – I’m not the type to do something like that. But one of my students was…”   
“What?” Marty asked, stunned.   
“Marty, you know I worked at the university, right?” The teen nodded. “Well, about five years ago, I had a student who was in a similar situation like you, having his heart broken by a girl, and, like you, came up with the idea to devise some concoction to have his girl fall in love with him. I agreed on him working on it as his chemical project, but he eventually gave up on it. I took a good look at it and his notes, and realized that it did have some potential. I got curious, so I went to work and eventually, I finished the formula for the potion.”   
“Did it work?” Marty asked.   
“I don’t know” Doc admitted. “By the time I’d finished, the student had met a different girl, and he didn’t need the potion anymore. And, well, I wasn’t sure whether or not I should test it out. There are significant risks attached to it, you know. Even if it worked, the chemical stimulation to your body this potion would provide would be severe. It might even be lethal.”   
“So…” Marty began.   
“So I locked the potion formula in my safe, and never thought of it again” Doc said. “As you said, it wasn’t my field of interest anyway, and it never really came up.”   
“So, you’ve still got it?” Marty asked. His friend nodded. “Can you make it for me?”   
“I don’t know…” Doc muttered, nervously. “There are risks attached.”   
“Well, you wouldn’t have to try it” Marty said. “I’m sure we can find someone, or even an animal, to test it on. And if it worked, it could get you rich and famous. Wouldn’t you like that?”   
Doc shrugged. “I don’t have any particular desire for it… but the thought behind it appeals to me” he said. “To prove to all those people who think I’m nothing that I am worth something… to have an ensured fortune to finance my time machine… but it’s too dangerous to reveal to the public, and if I never did so in the original timeline…”   
“But we can use it on my parents, too” Marty said, realizing his friend’s resolve was weaker than before. “If we get my mom to drink it, she and Dad will fall in love. It’s not even much more artificial than it was the first time around. And we don’t even know if it’ll work… it’s an interesting experiment, right?”   
“All right” Doc conceded. “I’ll try. But remember, you might be in for a miserable failure.”   
“That doesn’t matter” Marty happily ensured him. “We can always try. It’s like you’ve always told me – if you put your mind to it, you can accomplish anything.” 

oooooooo

As it turned out, it would be fairly easy to gather the ingredients on Doc’s formula. The inventor visited the stores in town that afternoon, and throughout the evening the two friends worked on preparing the potion. They were finally finished in the evening, and now had a black substance that reminded Marty somewhat of Pepsi. Now, all they had to do was test it.   
“So… what now?” Marty asked. “Who’ll try it first?”   
Doc looked at him, thinking hard. “Well, it will be a little dangerous to test it on either of us… let’s test it on Copernicus.”   
“You want to risk your dog’s life for this?” Marty asked, shocked. “I don’t know, Doc…”   
“You don’t get anywhere without taking risks” Doc said. “I’ll put some drops of the substance into a water bowl, and that should do the trick – it is fairly intensive, anyway. Such a small dose shouldn’t yield more than a minor reaction. Now, there’s always the chance that the potion doesn’t work on animals, but we’ll cross that bridge when we come to it.”   
“I suppose” Marty said. “So, who else are you going to use to test it? A female dog?”   
“I’ll go over to my neighbor’s” Doc said. “They’ve got a dog. I’m not sure if Copernicus likes her at all, but we’ll see that. It would be required, though. According to my theory, the potion will only work if the subject is, to the slightest extent, interested in the person he sees first. Fortunately, there is nearly always some attraction between people, even if it isn’t romantic but just on a level of friendliness or curiosity… but this might require more. And even then it doesn’t turn the recipient into someone with a mindless crush and a fully reshaped personality. The recipient stays him- or herself, they just get a strong attraction to the other person… or at least, that’s the theory.”   
“ _Can_ dogs even like each other?” Marty asked. “Romantically, the way humans do?”   
Doc shrugged. “We’ll just have to wait and see” he simply said. “I’ll go and fetch the neighbor’s dog. You find Copernicus and wait here.”   
Marty stared after his friend, as Doc left. Perhaps he’d installed too much of his own enthusiasm in his friend. Although he really wanted this problem solved, he didn’t want Doc to take his dog through so great risks. Some part of him contemplated stopping the experiment. However, the majority of his mind remembered the fresh burn of Jennifer dumping him. He would go on. And he’d get her back, no matter how long it took.   
After collecting Copernicus, Marty just waited out the time, staring at the all-important potion that might be one of the most revolutionary breakthroughs ever… or a complete failure, but somehow Marty doubted that. He had the feeling that, like with the time machine, this would work. This invention worked.   
When Doc returned with the neighbors’ dog – a female puppy resembling Copernicus somewhat – Marty went off to collect the dog’s bowl. Doc filled it with water, and then took a tube to put a few drops of the substance in the bowl. “It is a roughly 1 to 100 equation” the scientist informed Marty. “Perhaps he won’t even notice it.” He put the puppy in front of Copernicus, who eyed her reluctantly. “She won’t drink from it, boy” Doc said. “At least, not if you drink first.”   
Copernicus stared at his master and at the female dog, and then bent his head down to take a few gulps. Doc and Marty watched nervously.   
They didn’t have to watch long. Already after the first taste, Copernicus reacted strangely, and after a few gulps, he yelped and retreated nervously. His paw touched his chest – it would be the human reaction of clutching ones stomach. He stared at the bowl with horror, and then noticed the female puppy behind it.   
The moment Copernicus jumped towards her, the idea briefly shot through Marty’s mind that they’d made the dog a killer instead. But that was the opposite of the truth. Instead, Copernicus licked the terrified female puppy in her face, enthusiastically. The female, utterly terrified, managed to free herself from his grasp and ran away. Copernicus was hot on her tail. As they ran out of the room, Marty stared at Doc, impressed.   
“This is amazing” he muttered. “It works, Doc! This is the best thing you’ve invented since the time machine!”   
“Well, I haven’t really invented that yet, and a lot of _this_ isn’t my work” Doc pointed out, appearing shaken. “I… I can’t believe this. This substance is so strong… we can’t use it.”   
“What?” Marty asked. “After all that trouble…”   
Doc cut him off. “This potion might be even more dangerous than time travel, Marty” he said. “You’ve seen what a few drops in a bowl can do. Imagine what all this can do – it’s a whole liter. Any thief, any charmer, would be able to seduce any girl with this and get everything they wanted. The potential for disaster is just too big.”   
“I guess so” Marty muttered. “But what about Jennifer? I can’t tolerate this Doc, I want her back!”   
“Then you’ll just have to patch things up the old way – talking it out” Doc stated bluntly. “I’m not using this potion Marty, and that’s final. It’s gotten too late now – tomorrow we’ll bury the potion in a concrete box in my garden where no one will find it. I should have something around for it. The danger is too big.”   
Marty sighed. “If that’s what you say, Doc” he muttered, unsatisfied. Sighing, he headed towards his room.


	4. A Good Plan Goes Drastically Wrong

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> All right, this requires another suspension of disbelief, namely Marty forgetting what is in the Pepsi bottle, but hey, he's incredibly distracted, right? And there are many Pepsi bottles around, they all look alike, so...

**2: Chapter Two**

_November 10, 1955_  
 _01:00 AM PST_  
 _Hill Valley, California_

Marty couldn’t sleep.  
Sure, he knew it was dangerous. Sure, he knew that ethically, this was totally wrong. But he was desperate. Out there was a potion that would drive the girl of his dreams back into his arms. And the thought that they were going to bury it all and seal it tight, tomorrow…  
He just couldn’t bear it. Couldn’t bear the idea that, after tomorrow, the only thing with which he could ever get Jennifer back… was lost to him forever. He realized Doc’s ideas were right… but he couldn’t stand the idea of accepting them. He needed that potion.  
Cursing himself for just thinking this, Marty got up from his bed and slowly walked through his room. He quieted down significantly once he’d opened the door, but from what he could hear, Doc was snoring loudly, and thus fast asleep. Cautiously, Marty crept down the stairs towards the living room.  
A plan was ripening in his brain. He realized that he couldn’t save all of the potion – Doc would notice it, and confiscate it. But since the potion looked just like Pepsi, all he had to do was swap a Pepsi bottle with some of the potion, and smuggle it back to the future. That should be enough to convince Jennifer to date her again. And it would be very inconspicuous.  
He slowly walked into the living room, where Doc had stashed the potion. He opened the refrigerator and took out a bottle of Pepsi, then slowly gulped down the liquid inside it. Afterwards, he slowly leaned over the can of potion and poured it down in the Pepsi bottle, careful not to spill anything. With some relief, he saw that it was barely visible anything had left the can. Even someone like Doc wouldn’t notice it.  
He took the Pepsi bottle and put it back in the refrigerator – Doc didn’t drink that stuff anyway. He then crept back onto the stairs with a smile on his face, making sure that Doc hadn’t woken up in the meantime. Smiling, he went to sleep. 

oooooooo

Two days later, Marty sighed as the last of the clock chimes sounded. Although he knew that what was on the planning for tonight had to be done if he ever wanted to reconnect his parents, he wasn’t looking forward to it. Having to date his own mother… the thought sent chills up his spine.  
“Are you sure about this storm?” Doc then asked, interrupting his thought processes.  
“Since when can weathermen predict the weather, let alone the future” Marty responded. “That’s not what I’m worried about, though.”  
“Jennifer again?” Doc replied, frowning. “Marty…”  
Marty shook his head. “Nah, it’s not like that, really. It’s the whole thing with tonight… everything that’s going on…”  
“You don’t need to worry” Doc assured him. “As long as you do what you need to do and get your parents back together and the lightning strikes in time, you’ll be home by the end of the night.”  
“Well, that first part is what I’m worried about” Marty said. “Not to mention what happens to you. Doc, about the future…”  
“No!” the inventor returned. “We’ve already agreed that having knowledge about the future is hazardous to the continuum! Even if your intentions are good, they can backfire drastically!” Doc patted his shoulder. “Whatever you’ve got to tell me, I’ll find out through the natural course of time.”  
Marty sighed, and stared at his friend. “I need to get something to eat at Lou’s” he said. “I’ll be back soon.”  
“You’d better be” Doc replied. “You’re supposed to pick your mom up in thirty minutes.” 

oooooooo

After writing his friend a letter and putting it in his pocket, where Marty hoped Doc would find it, he headed off to the Baines house in Doc’s Packard. On the way there, he found himself forgetting all about Doc’s life that needed to be saved. As important as that was, he at least had some hope now that it would turn out fine… and even so, it would be something to worry about later tonight.  
As he stopped in front of Lorraine’s home, he found his heart beating nervously in his chest. He was more nervous and reluctant than he had ever been in his life. Going out on a date with his mother was bad enough, but actually hitting on her? Feeling her up? Marty shuddered uncomfortably at the thought.  
Already, he was shaking more than he had ever done in his life, and he hadn’t even seen Lorraine yet. Fortunately, he didn’t have to walk up to her door. No, if he wanted to make sure Lorraine was turned off by him and set up as a ‘damsel in distress’ for George to rescue, he’d have to appear like a jerk. So, he honked the horn.  
The sound that came out of it was remarkably low, and Marty groaned. Couldn’t he bring himself to make any louder noise? Lorraine might not even have heard that. “I need a drink” he muttered to himself. He nervously reached for the Pepsi bottle he had taken along from Doc’s house, keeping his eyes locked on the door, and started gulping it down his throat.  
From the first taste, Marty could tell something was wrong, but he didn’t notice. Yes, the taste was rather strange and unfamiliar, and it didn’t resemble Pepsi at all. However, his distraction was enough – or at least, that’s how he would come to justify it – not to _really_ notice until he was about halfway finished with the bottle. He stared at it, confused, and took another, long, gulp. Again, there was this strange taste. Confused, he closed the bottle – and then it hit him.  
The realization was worse than a dozen bricks falling on his head. That would have hurt, but it didn’t hurt as much as the thought that this was _that_ bottle, the one he’d taken from Doc’s refrigerator and switched with the potion. The moment lasted only briefly until the potion really hit his system a moment later. Marty found himself going through the same kind-of-like-electrocution process he’d witnessed with Copernicus – only much more intense, because he had consumed so much more. It lasted ten seconds, but for Marty’s emotions they might as well have been ten minutes.  
Suddenly, the feeling of electrocution faded and Marty blinked. He put the cap back on the bottle and threw it in the back of the car. The moment of relief he felt, however, was short-lived. He’d just taken a love potion. That worked. Which meant that he would fall in love with the first woman – heck, the first person – he’d see.  
He considered just running away, running through the streets of Hill Valley, to at least clear his mind. Perhaps he could even hide up a tree. A quick scan of the environment told him there wasn’t any tree out here, but he might be able to do something. He was already out of the car when he realized that this wasn’t a good idea either. It would mean leaving Doc’s Packard behind, but worse, just running through town or finding a tree to climb in could not solve his problems, and he might encounter someone then, too – well, unless he ran with his eyes closed, but that wasn’t an option. Frustrated, he leaned against the right side of the car and jammed his hand against the passenger door. Perhaps he could find a public telephone? Or he’d just hope some passerby might be able to escort him if he pretended to be blind? Then he could call Doc and…  
“Marty?”  
The voice that came from behind him, all of a sudden, caused the teenager to freeze. He hadn’t noticed someone had sneaked up on him until she was already there, and now she was standing a mere two feet behind him. He could just stop himself from turning around.  
“Marty, are you okay? I thought I heard something and saw the car here, so I figured that’d be you.” A pause, followed by a nervous giggle. “Marty, why aren’t you talking to me?” With some concern: “Are you feeling sick?”  
Marty knew he wasn’t sick, but she had struck very close to home. The person that was standing behind him, whom he’d fall head over heels in love with if he looked her in the eye, was the worst candidate for that he could ever have imagined.  
It was his teenage mother, Lorraine.


	5. Love At First Sight

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> All right, this is going to be a strange chapter, at least, not within the context of the story, but within the context of the fandom. Marty falls in love with Lorraine, and realizes the feelings he has for her after trying to resist them. Only then Biff shows up...
> 
> Oh, and of course this isn't love at first sight, as Marty knows Lorraine and has even seen her '50s incarnation numerous times already, but considering how much the sight is important here, it's still a fitting and even romantic chapter title. I think.

**3: Chapter Three**

_November 12, 1955_  
 _08:35 PM PST_  
 _Hill Valley, California_

After he had come to his stunning realization, at first, Marty tried to just ignore Lorraine. He just stood there, leaning against the car, desperately keeping his eyes away from her, even as she insisted that he should face her. That he should get into the car, and stop acting so cagy. He thought she’d been used to him acting cagy, but then again, this was fairly exceptional even for what he had shown this far. He was shaking. Lorraine noticed it too, and after about two minutes she finally asked the burning question: “Marty, what is wrong with you?”  
She just wouldn’t budge, and Marty got increasingly annoyed. He knew that there was a plan for tonight, and he was desperately trying to think of a way to get around it and avoid her… perhaps he could run away from the scene, and leave her there heartbroken. It would mean leaving the car behind, and it still meant that he needed to set her up with George – not to mention that he could run into someone and fall in love with them. Granted, little could be worse than falling for his own mother, especially now, but… it likely wouldn’t work.  
“I’m just not feeling very well, okay?” he finally replied. He really, _really_ didn’t want to have to turn around. At first, he had thought that given the fact that the girl he’d be facing was his own mother, the potion would never work anyway. Now, though, he wasn’t so sure of that. Lorraine’s voice sounded charming and gentle, in a way it had never done before. If he saw her, he knew on some level that all would be lost.  
“Marty, please” Lorraine said. “You’ll have to drive the car, after all. If you want to go through with the dance, can’t you just turn around?” With that, she put a hand on his shoulder.  
That was the last straw Marty, whose nerves were already exploding, could take. He snapped, turned around and screamed: “DON’T YOU GET IT? I’M JUST NOT FEELING WELL, ALL RI-”  
When recounting this crucial moment later in his memories, he never could determine what had come first: his realization that he had, in his madness, forgotten his caution and had turned around, or the potion taking effect. It didn’t matter anyway. He had been too paralyzed to care.  
Lorraine looked _beautiful_. No, she was much more than that – she was drop-dead gorgeous. Marty’s jaw dropped as he stared at her. Her brown hair was curled perfectly. Her beautiful pink dress matched her body exactly and the jacket she was wearing looked adorable. All was forgotten once he got a good look at her face, though – while there was a clear shock visible at his outburst the moment before, even that could not remove the fact that she looked prettier and hotter than all women he had ever seen in real life or in magazines. In that instant, Marty had fallen head over heels in love with her.  
For Lorraine, his sudden feelings were either unimportant or she didn’t notice them. She stumbled back at his cry, nearly tripping. “I’m sorry, Marty” she whispered quietly. “I didn’t mean to anger you.”  
Her beautiful and gentle voice uttering those words of apology made Marty suddenly feel very bad about what he had done to her, and the look of distraughtness on her face melted his heart. “No, I-I-I am sorry, Lorraine” he managed to utter. “I – I shouldn’t have shouted at you. I’m sorry. I am. Really.” He rushed over to her and took her arm, which sent a thrill through his body the moment he touched her. “Come on. Let’s – let’s go into the car.”  
While Lorraine was still pondering this, a voice at the back of his mind suddenly nagged him. What was he doing! He was supposed to give the wrong impression so she’d fall in love with George! Sure, Lorraine was pretty, but she was his _mother_!  
As Marty tried to regain control over himself and resist his feelings towards her, Lorraine nodded. “Thanks” she said, in that same pretty voice _Don't think about that!_ He held the door open for her, she stepped into the car, and Marty walked back to the driver’s side and got in as well – after nearly stumbling over a rock in the way there because he only had eyes for Lorraine.  
As they drove off, Marty began to wonder how on earth he was going to carry out his mission – hitting on Lorraine so she would get angry with him – now. He could no longer hurt her. He was sure of that. Such a pretty girl didn’t deserve getting assaulted by the boy she loved and trusted. Marty’s entire conscience was with him on that point. But then, what else could he possibly do? 

oooooooo

After a very tense ten-minute-drive, Marty pulled up in the parking lot of the Enchantment Under the Sea dance. His despair, if possible, had grown as his feelings for Lorraine rapidly developed and it felt like they were spreading throughout his body. He’d nearly ended up against a tree once because he was staring more into Lorraine’s eyes than on the road in front of him. However, he’d managed to salvage the situation just in time, and noted with some cynicism that although crashing the car would be a great idea to turn Lorraine off, it probably wouldn’t make Doc happy, and couldn’t get George together with her either.  
George… and Lorraine. Every time he thought of his teenage father with the girl he was rapidly beginning to idolize, Marty felt jealous in some part of his brain. He didn’t mind his father being with the woman who had once been his mother, back in 1985 before this crazy mess had even started. But Lorraine was not her. She was so young, so pure, so drop-dead-gorgeous. Marty felt the desire grow to help her. To get her to make something of her life. She didn’t deserve all the horrible things that had happened in the old world.  
The teen tried to clear his mind as he parked the car and turned to Lorraine nervously. She just looked so pretty, so sweet, so tender… Trying to ignore her appearance, he cleared his throat. “D-do you mind if we… park, for a while?”  
“That’s a great idea,” Lorraine replied, in that distinctive alluring voice that Jennifer couldn’t dream to match, “I’d love to park.”  
“What?” Marty blurted out, surprised. All right, maybe she hadn’t been exactly what she’d always told him… but to openly admit it?  
But she did, and she even went further. Lorraine giggled at him. “Marty, I’m almost 18 years old. It’s not like I’ve never parked before.”  
“Huh?” Marty stammered.  
“Marty, you seem so nervous, is something wrong?”  
For that moment, Marty considered telling her the truth. If he had to go through this all night… But instead, he stammered: “No, no… I’m fine. I guess I’m just… really… nervous. This is our first date, after all.” He figured that was a fairly convincing excuse, but found himself guilty of taking it seriously. _This is going to be our_ only _date,_ he told himself. _Focus, McFly, or you're a goner!_  
Lorraine smiled, and nodded. “I see” she said. “Then this might help you out.” She took a bottle of liquor out of her handbag. Marty’s eyes widened.  
“Lorraine, Lorraine, what are you doing?” he called out, taking the bottle from her while in the meantime putting her hand on her shoulder – for support, he told himself. Of course.  
Lorraine smiled innocently – a smile that made Marty want to kiss her. “I swiped it from the old lady’s liquor cabinet” she told him, grinning.  
While part of Marty felt impressed with her – he couldn’t see Jennifer being so bold, so adventurous, so… so awesome… he still found the presence of mind to berate her. “Well, I don’t think you should drink.”  
Lorraine frowned. “Why not?”  
“Well, you might regret it… later in life” Marty explained.  
Lorraine stared at him, appalled. “Marty, don’t be such a square!” she said. “Everybody who’s anybody drinks!”  
“I’m sorry” Marty blurted out immediately, groaning inwardly – if he couldn’t even bring himself to offend her over a bottle of alcohol, how on earth was he going to hit on her? – and taking the bottle himself and tasting a sip. He’d barely downed any of it, though, when he noticed Lorraine taking a cigarette. Surprised, he spit out some of the alcohol. “Geez, you smoke too!”  
Lorraine stared at him, annoyed. “Marty, you’re beginning to sound just like my mother.”  
Marty was about to apologize again, but now felt more freaked out than anything else – after all, Lorraine’s remark had hit closer to home than she’d expected. It hit even closer when she continued. “When I have kids, I’ll let them do anything they want. Anything at all.”  
“I’d like to have that in writing” Marty muttered, even though he had a hard time imagining himself as Lorraine’s son anymore. She was just so different from the mother he knew. He stared at her, then snapped his eyes away from her attractive face and stared to the window instead. What to do, what to do, what to do…  
He heard the sound of rustling behind him, and suddenly Lorraine asked: “Marty?” He turned towards her and gasped. His young mother had taken off her jacket, revealing a very pretty pink dress, which was sleeveless. Furthermore, the top of her breasts were visible sticking out of the dress in a very sexy manner. Marty gulped, as he found his heart fluttering.  
He forced himself to stare at Lorraine, to find that she was staring at him and smiling mischievously. Following her eye-trail, Marty blushed fiercely as he saw the bulge in his pants she’d noticed. _Oh great, now she knows I like her. What am I going to do now?_  
Apparently, the decision would be made for him. “Marty?” Lorraine repeated, and then added: “Why are you so nervous?”  
“Well,” Marty stammered, “Lorraine, have you ever been in a situation, where you knew you had to do something, but when you got there…” He stared at her, “…you couldn’t go through with it?”  
Lorraine smiled. “Oh, you mean like the way you’re supposed to act on a first date?”  
“Well… sort of” Marty allowed. There was a certain analogy, after all.  
“I think I know exactly what you mean” Lorraine replied, softly.  
“Y-you do?” Marty stammered. Lorraine nodded, scooting closer to him and putting a hand on his thigh, which sent an electric jolt through his brain but felt much better than it should have. He moved his hand over in a half-hearted attempt to remove hers, but by then the kind of sick pleasure he was feeling had grown enough for him to simply put his hand down to clasp hers – a feeling that, in itself, felt so good words could not describe it.  
“You know what I do in those situations?” Lorraine continued, her face moving closer towards him. She was kind of scary, but also beautiful, so beautiful…  
“No…” Marty whimpered, torn between terror, fear (for his existence) and actual enjoyment.  
“I don’t worry” Lorraine announced. With that, she closed the gap between their lips and kissed him.  
The shock was the first thing Marty noticed, but it was washed over by an intense pleasure a moment later. The way she was kissing him all but blew his mind. Her right hand rested on his chest and her left toyed with the hairs in his neck as she kissed him passionately. Lorraine was right on top of him and Marty realized he was enjoying it. Tremendously. Her tongue penetrating into his mouth was the icing on the cake and definitely won him over. Before he knew it, he was kissing her back. The kissing did feel kind of wrong, but it was a dull ache in the background, and so were his moral concerns. For the first time that week, Marty felt truly at ease. And why shouldn’t he be? After all, he was kissing the most beautiful girl on earth.  
Lorraine, however, didn’t share that sentiment, because suddenly and abruptly, she stopped the kiss. Her tongue slid back and she broke away, retreating while staring at him with something closely resembling terror. Marty felt some annoyance at her actions, and frowned. “What?” he blurted out.  
“This is all wrong” Lorraine muttered. “I don’t know what it is, but when I kiss you, it’s like… I’m kissing… my brother.” She frowned. “I guess that doesn’t make any sense, does it?”  
“No” Marty replied, numbly. Some part of him realized he should be happy, or even overjoyed… but he certainly didn’t feel that way! “No, no, no! Not now!”  
“Marty?” Lorraine asked, puzzled.  
Marty sat up, staring at her with a desperate look in his eyes. She couldn’t do this to him. She couldn’t break off their kiss now that he was enjoying it so much, it was the best thing he’d ever felt in his life and he did not want it to stop. “You’re… you’re wrong” he stammered. “I mean, sure, it felt kind of strange… but it also felt good, didn’t it?”  
Lorraine nodded, hesitantly. “Yeah” she admitted. “It was a good kiss, but there was just something… off about it. Something wrong… but also special. Unique.” She smiled faintly. “I’ve never kissed someone like that before.”  
“It was special” Marty agreed, seizing on the opportunity. “And maybe it was just a sign telling us we’re connected, closer than we could realize, and that’s why it would make us think we’re brother and sister… right?” Marty was just about blabbering on now. “I mean, I know it’s wrong but it’s also great and I wouldn’t care if you were my sister because even then I’d still enjoy kissing you because I – I – I really like you. You mean everything to me.”  
Lorraine smiled, touched. “Ooh…” she whispered. “Do you... do you mean that?”  
Marty contemplated that for a moment. The voices in his mind were now screaming at him, telling him to say no, to run away as far as he could go… but the realization was pressing up to him that it was true. He did care for her, like her, perhaps he even loved her. Young Lorraine was the most beautiful girl he’d ever met, and he’d hazard a guess that she matched his character much more than good old Jennifer had ever done. “Yeah” he stammered. “I l-l-l-l… I think I love you.”  
Lorraine blushed, even more touched now, and stretched her arms. “Oh Marty…” She leaned towards him and Marty couldn’t stop himself from returning the gesture, and he didn’t want to do that either. They embraced and kissed, kissed passionately. They stroked each other’s backs, explored each other’s mouths… it even made Marty forget all about Jennifer. She was a nice girl, and a good kisser, but there was no way on earth she’d ever be able to match this.  
Marty never figured out how long he’d been there kissing Lorraine that first time around, in the car. Was it a minute? Half a minute? A few seconds? Time seemed to disappear whenever he was around her, and thus he was absolutely oblivious to everything outside him until the door breezed open behind him. Suddenly, fear gripped his brain – what would Lorraine do if George ‘saved’ her now! – but that was surpassed when he realized who was pulling him out of the car.  
“You cost me three hundred bucks damage to my car, you son of a bitch” Biff snarled. “And I’m gonna take it out of your ass.”  
“Let him go, Biff, you’re drunk!” Lorraine called out, moving forwards to defend him.  
Biff smirked predatorily, and Marty suddenly felt sick as what had been the object of his own misplaced lust just a moment ago now became the object of much more misplaced lust. Lorraine realized the situation she was in and retreated, but it was too late already. “Oh no, you’re staying right here with me!” Biff called out, throwing Marty towards his gang before plunging in after her.  
“Leave her alone, you bastards!” Marty yelled.  
“Carry that noise-maker away and dump him!” Biff ordered. When his curious gang didn’t obey, he added: “Well, come on, this is no peep show!”  
The gang exchanged looks and shut the door behind Biff and Lorraine, carrying with them a struggling Marty whose mind was panicking as he thought of gorgeous Lorraine becoming the victim of that… that monster. “You bastards!” he shouted. “Let me go! Let her go! I – I – you can’t get away with this! You sick sons of bitches can’t get away with this! With any of this!”  
Clearly annoyed, the gang members continued trying to find a place to dump him, and then located the trunk of a car. “Let’s put him in there!” one gang member called out. They roughly threw Marty inside. “That’s for messing up my hair” another said, closing the trunk.  
To Marty’s relief, though, the moment thereafter he heard some voices, clearly the owner(s) of the car, having a brief conversation with the gang and then chasing them off. At least he would get some help. However, from the way he could see it, the trunk had snapped shut and the keys were right next to him. It might take a while for him to get out.


	6. Saving Lorraine From Biff

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> All right, the origin of this chapter title is pretty obvious, as is the context of the tale. Marty has a brief relapse, but eventually comes to cope with his feelings. You just keep in mind the strength of the potion and how much of it Marty has gulped down. He's still himself, but the potion is heavily influencing his feelings.

**4: Chapter Four**

_November 12, 1955_  
 _9:10 PM PST_  
 _Hill Valley, California_

George McFly pounded on the door of the phone booth, but to no avail. He still cursed himself for being so stupid to get locked up in the booth in the first place, but that didn’t help him either. He’d made the mistake of calling an operator to get the exact time – as time was important in Marty’s scheme – and now, as a direct result of that, he would never get to the car in time. He couldn’t free himself, and nobody was walking past to free him.  
Well, almost nobody. To George’s relief, he could see his friend Lester walking past. “Lester!” he yelled, at the top of his breath. “Hey, Lester!” He pounded on the door of the booth, but to no avail. If Lester had noticed him at all, his mind was distracted by something else. Indeed, George could hear something vaguely sounding like Marty yelling. He figured that must have been a mistake, though. Why would Marty be yelling? It wasn’t in their plan for him to be yelling… was it? Anyway, if he was the person who was yelling, he’d just messed up George’s best chance of getting rescued.  
Frustrated, he just continued hitting the door. To no avail, as he’d expected. He sighed, frustrated, and leaned back. Unless someone else would come past, he’d spend the rest of the night in the phone booth. Now that was just perfect. 

oooooooo

Marty felt oddly relieved, as he sat/lay in the trunk of the car. He had gone far accepting Lorraine’s affections – uncomfortably far. She was beautiful, sweet and gentle… but she was also his mom. And now, he’d gotten rid of her. He was free from her alluring smile, free from her kiss, free…  
Marty shuddered inwardly. He didn’t want to love Lorraine. He wanted to pretend he didn’t feel anything for her. She was his mother. He tried to think about the Lorraine McFly that had been his mother, and shivered. No, he did not want to have anything to do with that woman romantically.  
But Lorraine wasn’t like that. She was so much younger, purer, and prettier now. Even thinking of her made him smile. Her kiss hadn’t been anything like he’d ever experienced before.  
 _But I can’t be with her!_ he told himself. _If I get together… with my own mother… I’d die!_ The thought of dying terrified him immensely. Erasure from existence… heck, the mere thought of going to the dance with his own parent was sick and wrong and perverted and disgusting and kind of exciting…  
Marty groaned. He had to admit to himself that in some corner of his mind, it felt like an exciting idea to go to the dance with Lorraine… so wrong, so forbidden, and yet he’d be the only one who knew. But the thought of dying… Marty groaned again. He needed to get her together with George! If not, he’d never exist, and Doc had told him that might just be the top of the iceberg for its consequences on the world! But if George ever appeared now – and Marty doubted it – he’d only face Lorraine with Biff…  
A shiver suddenly crept up Marty’s spine. Lorraine was getting assaulted. Assaulted by Biff Tannen, the man they both hated. And it was his fault. _He_ had insisted that they’d park. _He_ had made Biff crash into manure which had caused him to come look for him. If Lorraine got raped, it would be his fault.  
The sheer horror and guilt that came with that realization broke Marty’s final burden. He couldn’t leave Lorraine behind. He _had_ to save her, and if she wanted to go to the dance with him afterwards he wouldn’t have the right to say no. He shuddered. Lorraine was so beautiful, and he’d resisted her all week. And when he had finally accepted her affections, he had done so under false pretences and had trapped her in this situation! He needed to stick to Lorraine now, stick to the girl he now realized he did truly love. He’d protect her, even if it would cost him his life. That was the best he could do to make it up to her for treating the genuine love she’d showed him the past week as a creepy distraction.  
The moment after he realized that, the trunk’s lock snapped open. Marty jumped out and stared at the band members. One of them was groaning. “Almost sliced my hand there” he muttered.  
“Whose are these?” Marty asked, holding out the keys.  
“Mine” another band member said.  
Marty tossed them over, and ran off. It felt almost like the old adagio was true, and fear really gave wings. This time it wasn’t even fear for himself, but fear for Lorraine’s sake. The thought of what Biff might be doing to her… he felt horrified just thinking of it.  
He arrived on the scene not long after, and the sight of the Packard being violently rocked made him double his speed. He didn’t slow down until he arrived at the car, and opened the door. He stared at Biff, who was still trying to pull on Lorraine’s dress and kissing her violently.  
There were some things he had in mind, but in the end only one line came out: “Hey you,” Marty said, “get your damn hands off her.” It had been George’s line, the line that would cause him and Lorraine to live happily ever after, and more and more that was becoming Marty’s subconscious desire too – even if it was probably impossible.  
“I thought my goons disposed of you” Biff said, staring at him.  
“They didn’t” Marty said, exchanging a glance with Lorraine, who looked at him with the greatest relief he’d ever seen on her. “Now are you going to leave her alone?”  
Biff chuckled. “And you’re going to make me?” he said, pushing Lorraine back and standing up. Marty stared up at his opponent. Biff was significantly taller than him, but that hadn’t kept him from winning a fight before.  
Nevertheless, there had been a skateboard around then – and an easy way to trip Biff. Now, there wasn’t. Knowing that this could only be solved in one way, Marty reached out and punched Biff.  
Or at least, he tried to punch Biff. His fist was stopped before it could get to Biff’s stomach, and instead Biff twisted Marty’s arm onto his back. Marty winced. It hurt terribly… too terrible to think… he tried to wriggle free, but couldn’t. To worsen his agony, Biff was laughing at him.  
“Biff, stop it!” Lorraine shouted. “Stop it Biff, you’re breaking his arm!” As Biff didn’t listen, she got out of the car and jumped on him. “Let him go, you-you-you jerk, let him go!”  
In response, Biff just gave her a shove, pushing her to the ground roughly. He laughed at her, which caused Marty’s anger to boil to new levels. Biff was laughing. Laughing at her. Laughing at Lorraine, whom he’d just hurt.  
His anger made him capable of improvising just enough to attain a strategy to victory. His knee jerked up and hit Biff in the groin. The bully groaned and let go of him for only one moment – but that was all Marty needed. He freed his arm, stretched, clenched his hand into a fist and hit Biff full in the jaw.  
Marty didn’t believe he’d ever hit anyone that hard before, and apparently Biff didn’t either because he fell down immediately, knocked out. Marty stared at him in amazement. He’d done it. He’d knocked Hill Valley’s number one bully out. He’d saved Lorraine.  
Suddenly remembering the girl he had come to save, Marty turned to Lorraine, who was sitting on the ground staring at him. “A-are you okay?” he stammered.  
As Lorraine nodded, he reached out and helped her up. Staring into her loving, grateful eyes made his last hesitation disappear, as well as Lorraine’s faint, sweet smile that made his heart flutter. No matter if death itself was the consequence – he could not leave this woman.  
Almost instinctively, Marty and Lorraine slid their arms around each other and kissed warmly. They parted only after a few seconds, but they kept their arms entangled and their eyes focused on each other as they walked to the dance. They were oblivious to the crowd that had formed itself around them. They didn’t care.  
After all, who would care about _anything_ if he had Lorraine?


	7. A Changed Love, A Changed Existence

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Another chapter with a meaningful/silly title. Features... things happening. To Marty. You can just read it for yourself, I don't have to say it in advance.

**5: Chapter Five**

_November 12, 1955_  
 _09:25 PM PST_  
 _Hill Valley, California_

The song that was just picking up was called ‘Earth Angel’, and Marty knew Lorraine wanted to dance with him. Nevertheless, he was gentlemanly enough to go through the formality. He turned towards her with a smile and extended his arm. “Allow me?” he asked.  
“Of course” Lorraine replied, putting her hands in his. They slowly began to dance a moment later, waltzing across the dance floor at a slow speed. The speed didn’t matter, though – they did not need to get anywhere, and even if they did, they wouldn’t have hurried anyway. They were focusing on each other.  
Well… not entirely on each other. Marty’s mind was also on another matter – that of his impending erasure. Before asking Lorraine to dance, he’d made sure the photograph of his siblings stuck out of his pants’ pocket so he could casually peek at it without Lorraine noticing. It didn’t look very well. Only he was left on the picture, and he wasn’t sure how long he would last – not on the photograph, nor in real life.  
“Aren’t you going to kiss me, Marty?” Lorraine asked, softly. “It wouldn’t be our first, but it is a romantic conclusion to a dance.”  
“Well, we aren’t finished with this dance yet, are we?” Marty pointed out. He clasped her right hand in his left. His right hand was at the height of Lorraine’s waist, while her left hand rested on his chest near his left shoulder. Although he presented a valid argument to her, his real reason was different – he hadn’t got a clue what the hell to do. Was he going to erase? Probably… but what could he do to help Lorraine through it? Or should he leave her before the process got started, so she wouldn’t have to see him die? For the first time Marty realized that taking Lorraine to the dance hadn’t been so good an idea after all. He might have saved her, but him breaking her heart by dying wasn’t a good idea either…  
His right hand suddenly slid off Lorraine’s side to his chest, in which he felt a sudden jolt of pain. “Marty?” Lorraine asked, worriedly stopping with the dance to look at him. “Are you all right?”  
“I’m… I’m fine” Marty lied, stealing some glances at the photograph. “I just… need… a moment…”  
“Not feeling too well, are you Klein?” a sort-of-familiar voice suddenly said. Marty looked up to see Mark Dixon. The red-haired bully grinned at him. “Well, suppose that’s nice, since it saves me trouble.” He roughly shoved Marty aside. The teen’s reflexes, slowed down by his impending erasure, couldn’t stop the blow. Marty fell on the ground.  
Helpless, he looked up to see Dixon grin and then taking Lorraine roughly away from him. Marty groaned, wincing at the pain he felt. His hand felt worst. He took it up to look at it, and gulped to see he could look straight through it. Perhaps… it would be best… not to burden Lorraine with this… die alone…  
Then he looked up, and his eyes met Lorraine’s.  
The desperation in that face he adored so much suddenly ended all feelings of doubt in Marty’s consciousness. He was going to die. That was all – well, not fine, but acceptable. But if he was going to die, he wanted to die for a worthy cause… and there could only be one. The cause of the girl he was ready to call the love of his life.  
His arms were transparent and his hands all but gone as he made his way back to his feet and started stumbling over to the place Dixon had hauled Lorraine off to. People around him looked at him and shrieked. The dance immediately near him seemed to stop to a halt, and it was spreading throughout the hall as more and more people noticed that something had to be up. Marty tried to act inconspicuous, but it didn’t work very well and frankly he hardly cared anymore.  
Dixon and Lorraine noticed, too, and both looked at him with shock. “What the heck’s going on with you, dude?” Dixon asked Marty, stunned.  
“You know what?” Marty grunted. “You’d better… worry about yourself.” With all the strength he could muster, he gave the bully a death glare before plowed forwards into him, shoving him out of the way and onto the ground roughly. The bully looked at him with fright in his eyes, got up, and ran off.  
With that done, Marty turned to Lorraine. He could see the fear in her eyes. It was only natural, he supposed – after all, his arms were disappearing, his hands were all but gone, and he suspected his chest may have made the leap to at least partial transparency as well. He stared at her, and she stared back.  
Then, her features softened, and a hint of a smile appeared on her lips. Marty moved over to her, drawn to her beauty as always. This time, though, it was different. No doubt, no hesitation. Not even fear, and the pain numbed as he got closer. Lorraine’s eyes sparkled at him and against all common sense, she leaned in as well, wrapping her arms around him where he could no longer do the same to her in turn. It was as if she was saying that though she had no clue what was going on and she was shocked and frightened by it, her love for him conquered it all. She didn’t say that, though. The only word that left her lips was a soft, loving “Marty…”  
They kissed. Intensely. It wasn’t a French kiss, but it was a passionate one. Though his entire body seemed on the verge of collapse, everything felt less important then. He loved her. She loved him. If he died like that, it would be the best end to his life he could imagine.  
Lorraine pulled away after about ten seconds, slowly but surely. Marty, standing shakily as he was and being just held upright by her arms around him, stared at the transparent picture of himself, and then at his girlfriend. He was still faded. Nevertheless, it felt like a strange jolt of energy was pouring into him. “Lorraine…” he stammered. “I…”  
And then, he passed out. 

oooooooo

When the darkness in his mind finally faded and Marty began to come to, he instantly wished he hadn’t. He felt like he’d just gone through and recovered from a severe whack on his head, a fever, a bullet wound, the plague – any of them, or perhaps _all_ of them – and numerous other illnesses. It even sort of felt like had died and had come back to life. Everything on and around him hurt. Marty’s subconscious – the only part of him that seemed to be working right now – knew that if he tried to move any bone in his body, he’d find out he couldn’t.  
His subconscious apparently made up for the lack of physical movements by making his brain work. Images flashed through his mind, and they seemed more real than the world around him – whatever that might be. He saw a hospital room, twice over, with both perspectives showing him a different view – in one view, he seemed to be a baby, or a small child, being held by someone, in the other, he was holding someone… and yet the scenarios were similar. That person who held something said something in both scenarios, and Marty could distinguish the voices as being different, but as the scene were repeated the voice of the scenario in which he was the one held seemed to blur into the other one.  
The image faded, and was replaced by another, one in which he was surrounded by smaller kids, kids he didn’t know but whose names he instantly knew regardless. David. Jane. Jennifer. Linda. Douglas. Calvin. And little Marty. They were clearly siblings, with the oldest being about ten and the youngest just a baby.  
He then saw images that he knew were the ones he _should_ feel, but that didn’t feel _right_ – so he rejected them. Jennifer, Doc, the DeLorean… they faded and blurred into one image of Lorraine, young Lorraine, smiling at him and looking more beautiful than he had ever seen her.  
As he realized that, Marty noticed a voice near him – not in the dream, in the actual world around him. Lorraine’s voice, he realized numbly. Strange how he no longer associated that voice, that appearance, with his mother. She still was, of course, but she wouldn’t be yet. Not for a long time. For now, she meant so much more to him.  
“Marty?” Her voice grew louder – or that might have been his imagination. “Marty? Wake up, Marty.” A pause. “Sweetheart.”  
Slowly but ever faster, Marty could sense feeling return to him. He felt different, and yet the same, but most of all he felt _alive_ again. He moved his fingers slightly, and found out he could. His toes could be moved, too, even his feet. And now – Marty braced himself – he tried his eyes.  
They opened, and Marty could see what was around him. A crowd had gathered, some with concerned looks in their faces. Some of them looked jealous, though, and Marty guessed that was because of the person nearest to him. Lorraine was leaning over him, and was about to repeat his name once more when she’d realized he had opened his eyes. “Marty!”  
“Yep, it’s me” Marty mumbled, trying to put pressure on his hands and stand up. He didn’t get past sitting up, though, because then Lorraine suddenly hugged him and plastered his face with kisses. “Marty (kiss) I was (kiss) so (kiss) worried (kiss) about you…”  
“I’m fine now” Marty ensured her. That compelled her to, reluctantly, let go, so Marty could stand up and face the crowd. “All right everybody, just back up, okay, back up, I’m okay, just go on with the dance.”  
“You sure, pal?” One of the boys said. “You certainly didn’t look so well just now.”  
“Yeah! You were fading out!” a girl proclaimed.  
“Fading out?” Marty repeated, trying to get his voice to focus. He grinned nervously. “That’s hardly possible, is it? Perhaps you’ve just had too much to drink.”  
Insecure mutterings spread through the crowd. The ‘maybe we were seeing things’ idea was spreading. After all, most of them hadn’t been in a position to directly see Marty’s faded limbs – or at least, that’s what he assumed. He didn’t know what had happened when he fainted. A few of the people around him weren’t so easily convinced, though. “I’m sure I saw something” the boy who had previously spoken up insisted. “There was something going on with you. You were at least sick. And from the way you’re looking out of your eyes, you still aren’t all right.”  
As Marty was at a loss how to respond to that, Mr. Strickland helped him for the first time in their lives, even counting the encounters he had had with the vice-principal’s older self. “All right, everybody, he says he’s all right, so he _is_ all right. Just get back to dancing and stop making such a fuss, or it’s detention for all of you.” Under his breath, he added: “He’s a slacker for fainting anyway.”  
Lorraine, of course, stayed by Marty’s side, and too watched as the crowd dispersed, though quite some of them still looked at him warily and uncertain even as the music started up again. As everybody had left, even her friends, Lorraine turned to Marty, a faint smile on her face. “Well, Marty,” she said, “I hope you don’t think I’ll fall for that excuse of yours.”  
Marty was about to reply defensively, but then he caught the look in her eyes and figured that she wasn’t going to believe any cover story he would think of. She had been closest to the facts, after all, and for all her tendencies to cheat and not taking school seriously (much like he did), he figured she was quite clever when you got down to it. And he didn’t want to lie to her, not anymore. He took a deep breath. “No, I don’t.”  
Lorraine nodded. “Then I believe you’ve got some explaining to do.”  
“I’m not entirely sure I understand it myself” Marty replied, which was partially the truth. Now that he’d gained consciousness, his mind was wrecking him with questions. Why hadn’t he disappeared? What had happened while he’d been unconscious? He tried hard to think back to the last moment of alertness. He’d just kissed Lorraine, and a jolt of energy had streamed through him. So, the kiss must have saved his life. But why? And why did he feel so different, as if he wasn’t the same person anymore? Had the old Marty faded away and been replaced by him? Who was he now, anyway?  
Suddenly, his brain was hit by a bright idea. The photograph. He still had it on him, hadn’t he? “Just a moment” he told Lorraine, walking a few feet away from the girl who was still looking at him with impatience. Fortunately, he soon found the picture, looked at it – and gasped it.  
He was back, yes, but the picture had changed totally. A lot more people were on it, and they were identical to the ones he had seen in his semi-dream. It was like he was part of a different family. But how could that have happened? Through one kiss? One kiss that had happened…  
That had happened at the same time… his father had kissed Lorraine… in the old world?  
The solution suddenly seemed so clear, he almost didn’t need any confirmation. He looked anyway. With shaking hands, he got out his wallet and looked at his driver’s license. The picture was the same. The birthday was the same. But his name was no longer Martin McFly, it was Martin Klein.  
Confused, he continued to look through his personal stuff until he finally found what he was looking for – an ID document containing some broader personal information – and gasped. The ‘parents’ name’ part was not the same.  
Prior to his journey through time, this part had read: ‘George D. McFly and Lorraine S. Baines McFly’. Now, it read: ‘Calvin M. Klein and Lorraine S. Baines Klein’.  
Now that he could see it, it was so obvious. And yet it was something he had never thought of before, because it was truly unprecedented in history.  
Like his father in the old reality, his kiss of Lorraine had given her the confirmation that she wanted to spend the rest of her life with him. And like his father, he had married her. And like his father, he had fathered… himself.  
It took a while to sink in, and it might have taken much longer if not for Lorraine clearing her throat and calling him back to her attention. With amazement, he looked at her. She was his mother, as she had always been. She’d just become his girlfriend. But now, she was his future wife. And looking closer at her, that notion didn’t seem too bad after all. Especially if tonight’s events could not be reversed, which was apparently the case. That meant that he had to marry her and father himself, or he would never exist.  
“Lorraine” he said, his mind racing. “Can you… can you wait a little while longer? In the car, perhaps?” It would probably be better to do the explanation there, away from prying eyes. “I’ve got something to resolve… before I can explain to you… _exactly_ what just happened, and why it happened.”  
Lorraine pondered it for a moment, love winning out over impatience. “All right” she said. “But you’d better make it quick.”  
Marty flashed a lopsided smile at her and kissed her on her cheek. “For you, honey, I’ll be as quick as a lightning bolt.”


	8. The Future Has Been Written

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> New chapter, detailing Marty's explanation of the plan to Lorraine. I hope it sounds plausible and convincing. Of course, unlike in Lovers in Time, Marty doesn't have the DeLorean with him (not right now, anyway), and thus needs to rely on Lorraine loving and trusting him. That didn't go too well for Clara and Doc back in 1885, but Marty is fortunately luckier (or just better-prepared/-skilled at this sort of thing).

**6: Chapter Six**

_November 12, 1955_  
 _09:40 PM PST_  
 _Hill Valley, California_

The little matter Marty needed to resolve was, of course, that of George McFly, his (former) future father. Although Marty had considered that George might not have come to the dance in the first place, he nevertheless decided to go look for him. That turned out to be a smart idea, as he soon found George in a phone booth cell, looking extremely relieved when he saw Marty.  
It took him a few moments to free George, but then the other teenager burst out, worried. “Where’s Lorraine? I need to…”  
“It’s over, George” Marty told him.  
George looked at Marty, puzzled. “What?”  
“You didn’t show up, but Biff did” Marty explained. “He tried to… rape, Lorraine,” it still hurt thinking about that, “so I had to rescue her. I’m afraid that she fell in love with me even more than she’d already had… and I returned her affections. It’s a lost cause, George.”  
“But… but… but…” George stammered. “You said she’d fall in love with me if I would stand up for her!”  
“Yes, but _I_ stood up for her” Marty replied, groaning inwardly. He knew it would be hard to convince George this way, now that he’d done so much trouble to convince him the other way.  
“You’ve done it before” George pointed out. “In the cafeteria, and when you made Biff crash into manure… well, you didn’t stand up for her in that last case, but I could see how impressed she was by you. And yet, you insisted that she wanted to go with me, only that…”  
“…only that she didn’t know it yet” Marty finished, knowing it all too well. “But the dance is over, George. I don’t think we’ll ever persuade Lorraine the other way now.”  
George frowned, then shivered. “But what about Darth Vader? He threatened to melt my brain if I didn’t go to the dance with her!”  
“But you didn’t anyway, did you?” Marty insisted, grasping at straws to convince his former father. “You didn’t take Lorraine out, I did. The plan was for you to only come to her rescue as soon as she got to the dance. They’re al… they’re extra-terrestrials, George. They might be very literal. And you didn’t complain about that before.”  
“You’re saying Darth Vader might have come after me anyway?” George asked, frightened.  
“I’m saying that, perhaps, you didn’t even believe in it yourself” Marty said. “Who’s to say you didn’t have a nightmare?”  
George pondered that. “But why would I have woken up in such an odd position then? And you believed me before!”  
“You woke up in that position, George, because your actions in real life mirrored the ones you did in your dream to combat the fake threat” Marty insisted. “And I believed you, well, because I really wanted you to take Lorraine out. Now, though, I don’t.”  
George hesitated. “But…”  
“No buts, George!” Marty shouted. “You didn’t appear when you were supposed to, so I can hardly show up now with you in tow! Now get out of here!”  
Although George was taller, he remained a wimp, and shuddered. “Yeah, Marty. I’ll be out of here right away.” With that, he ran off.  
Marty stared after his former father, wondering what had possessed – or had enabled – him to shout at the man like that. He was sure he wouldn’t have done that before George stopped being his Dad and their family bond had thus been severed. He shook his head. All of this was too confusing.  
He got back to Lorraine a minute or two later, and found her waiting in the car, looking impatient. When she saw him, though, a smile lit up her pretty features. “Good thing you came back” she said, softly.  
“I’d better” Marty said, sitting down next to her in the driver’s seat. “Not just for you, but for the car as well.”  
Lorraine frowned, which made clear to Marty that he’d better come straight to the point. “Lorraine, the explanation I have for the kinda strange things which just happened…”  
“…why parts of you were _fading out_ ” Lorraine corrected.  
“…is going to sound totally insane” Marty continued. “And therefore I’d like to ask you to keep an open mind and stay here until I can show you proof.”  
Lorraine hesitated, and finally smiled. “All right” she said. “I know I can trust you, Marty, and that you wouldn’t just come up with a story – and besides, why wouldn’t you be honest? You’re not the type who’d try to hurt me, I’ve noticed that.”  
“Glad you did” Marty said, smiling faintly. Yes, the impression of him he had initially wanted to create in her this evening was now definitely averted, and for the better. “Although I’m not sure you’ll stick to that once you hear what I’ve got to say.” He took a deep breath, and stared into Lorraine’s eyes. “I’m from the future. I came here in a time machine Doc Brown invented and tonight I was planning to go back to the year 1985 – or at least, until my plans changed here because I fell in love with you.”  
Lorraine stared at him as if he came from an asylum. “Marty, that is totally insane.”  
“I know, I just told you it was” Marty replied. “But will you let me show you some proof?”  
Lorraine hesitated again, and stared deep into Marty’s eyes. Marty blinked, hoping that his eyes were radiating his honesty to her. They probably were, for when Lorraine stopped staring, her features softened. “Either you’re telling the truth, or you’re one of the best liars I’ve ever seen” she finally decided. “All right, give me your ‘evidence’.”  
Marty smiled, glad the love of his life hadn’t denounced him on the spot. “You won’t regret it” he said, taking out his wallet. He took out a picture which, in the old timeline, had showed his father and Lorraine – now, Marty realized, it showed a person who looked very much like an older him with Lorraine. His mother looked a lot younger than she had in the other picture, and happier as well. Marty smiled, and after checking the back of the photograph, he handed it over to Lorraine. “That’ll satisfy your curiosity” he said. “Oh and by the way, I’ll have more evidence to show you later.”  
Lorraine took the photograph, and gasped. As Marty had thought before, she wasn’t stupid, and very soon comprehension dawned on her. Lorraine stared up at him, clearly at a loss. “That’s…. that’s us” she stammered. “Older. How did you do that?”  
“The same way I did this,” Marty said, pulling out the other photographs, some of which showing his new self’s family. He took one photograph in particular, which showed one of his future sisters wearing a shirt saying ‘Class of 1984’. When he pointed it out to Lorraine, she shook her head.  
“This is so bizarre” she whispered, taking long pauses between words to let it all sink in. “All right… all right. I’m not sure I can believe it just yet – but let’s say that I do. You are from the future. What do _I_ have to do with all that?”  
Marty smiled faintly. “Can’t you guess?” he replied. When she shook her head, he stopped teasing and showed her his ID document. Lorraine stared at it, and her eyes widened.  
“It says we’re married” she stammered. “In the future. But it marks us… as the parents… of… you…” She stared at him. “But how?”  
“I can only tell you what I know, which is little” Marty said. “But what I can tell you is that, until I went back from 1985, you were indeed my mother… and George McFly was my father.” Lorraine remained quiet at that, allowing him to continue. “When I was accidentally sent back in time using Doc Brown’s invention, I interfered with your first meeting. Remember when I got hit by your father’s car?” Lorraine nodded. “George was supposed to get hit, and you should have fallen in love with him. And instead, you fell for me.”  
Lorraine nodded, uneasily. “Go on” she whispered.  
“Once Doc – he’s not my uncle, by the way, just my friend – and I found out, I tried to get you two back together, which wasn’t very easy.” Lorraine blushed at that. “Worse, I was suffering from lovesickness after my girlfriend, Jennifer Parker, back in 1985, had broken up with me. So Doc and I came up with some love potion – which I know sounds insane, but trust me, he really is a genius – a potion that I could use on her, but also on you.”  
Lorraine frowned. “But you didn’t.”  
Marty nodded, sighing. “Doc disapproved of the plan when we realized the immense strength of the potion, and so I had to sneak some of the potion away in a Pepsi bottle. I accidentally drank that when I was waiting for you tonight in front of your house – and, well, I fell head over heels for you when I first saw you.” He stared deeply into her eyes. “Believe me, I tried to divert my feelings away from you. But I couldn’t. You’re just too darn _perfect_. You’re impossible to resist.”  
Lorraine blushed fiercely. “But how did that happen?” she asked, pointing at the card. “Why are you your father, and not George?”  
Marty shrugged. “I’m not sure. I think we must have kissed each other convincingly at the point you and George were supposed to have kissed – the moment I was nearly erased – and at that point, my fatherhood must have skipped from George to me. I was extremely lucky there.” He sat straight and took her hand. “So I suppose I’d better just ask you right now… Lorraine, are you willing to commit to this future? To dating me? To marrying me?”  
Lorraine stared at him for a long time. “I don’t know” she finally concluded. “Marty, if you’re telling the truth – and I think I believe that by now, even if parts of me still can’t accept it – then I’m your mother. Then we’re practicing incest!”  
“I know!” Marty exclaimed. “I tried to fight against it, too, but I couldn’t. You’re just too attractive, too sweet, too beautiful…”  
“You shouldn’t use those terms when addressing your mother” Lorraine said.  
“Even when they’re true?” Marty retorted. “You _are_ beautiful. And even if that potion is influencing my vision, I still think you and I are a better match than Jennifer and I, or you and George.”  
“That’s another matter” Lorraine mumbled. “The potion.”  
Marty frowned, but soon realized what she didn’t want to say – how can I be sure you won’t fall out of love with me after the potion expires? How can I date someone who was only steered in this direction thanks to some kind of chemistry – scientific chemistry, that is? Is that even morally right? He stared at her and took her hand back in his. “Lorraine,” he said, hoarsely, “I promise you right now that I’ll stay with you, even after the potion expires and after our son is born – after I am born – unless we both wish to separate. I’m willing to write it down on paper if that’s what you ask, but for now I’ll just promise it. And I doubt I’ll ever fall out of love with you. The potion gave me a big push in the right direction, but even without it I think I had some feelings for you before that.”  
“You may have a point there” Lorraine said. “I suppose I was largely clouded at the time too, but I suspect that you were at least partly attracted to me when we first met.”  
“Probably” Marty agreed. “I thought you looked very pretty, but that mere thought freaked me out, so I didn’t act on it. Perhaps I did have feelings for you, deep down – but I don’t think that without the potion, I could have convinced myself of that, much less whether I should act on them.”  
Lorraine sighed. “Marty,” she began, “I really don’t want you to die…”  
“That shouldn’t be a hindrance to making a free choice for you” Marty insisted. “If you don’t want me…”  
“You’re partly wrong and partly right there” Lorraine replied. “My mind doesn’t want you – you’re my son, you’re from the future, you’re radically different from anyone around here and it would be very wrong if we were together. And yet, my heart can’t help but love you, and partially for those very reasons.”  
Marty stared at her nervously. “So…”  
“I’m torn” Lorraine said. “My mind still prefers going out with George. He’s stable, and I suppose he wouldn’t make a half bad husband. But that’s not enough.” She stared into his eyes. “Marty, I think you and I have similarities George and I could never have, and you’re much more adventurous than George. My heart belongs to you. And I think that should be decisive.” She leaned forwards in his direction. “I love you. I’m willing to commit to you. One final question, though – are you sure you, too, want this?”  
Marty felt touched that she put his interests first, and smiled. Then he nodded, with barely any reluctance left in his brain. Lorraine smiled in turn. “Then the answer is yes” she whispered. “But… but let’s move slowly, okay?” Then her smile turned mischievous again. “If we can manage that, at least.”  
Marty chuckled. “If we can” he agreed. And with that, the two teenagers leaned in to kiss each other, a newly engaged couple eagerly anticipating the future.


	9. In Which Angry Discussions Are Held Between Friends

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The chapter in which things are explained to Doc. He doesn't really take it all that well, until it is hammered home just how much tonight has become irreversible. (Well, I suppose he could have sent either Marty or himself back to earlier that evening by the lightning strike, but first of all he didn't think of that, and secondly as we have seen in the movie harnessing the lightning would require two people, at least, and with Marty and Lorraine being uncooperative, it wasn't going to work anyway.)

**7: Chapter Seven**

_November 12, 1955_   
_09:50 PM PST_   
_Hill Valley, California_

After their kiss, Marty and Lorraine started talking, but that didn’t last long. Soon, Marty checked the time and paled. “The clock tower” he whispered.   
“What about it?” Lorraine asked.   
“I was supposed to go back to the future tonight by catching a lightning bolt at the clock tower… again, long story” Marty sort-of-explained. “The lightning strikes at 10:04, and I was supposed to be back at 9:45. Doc’s going to be… annoyed, for sure. And that’s putting it mildly.”   
“Back to the future” Lorraine pondered. She grinned, excited. “Back to 1985?”   
“That’s right” Marty said, smiling as he guessed her feelings on the issue. “Want to join me?”   
Lorraine smirked. “I was hoping you would ask” she replied, giving Marty a peck on the cheek as he turned the engine on and drove the sturdy old Packard back to the Courthouse Square.   
As they neared the Square, Marty turned to Lorraine. “You’d better stay in the car at first” he said, softly. “I don’t know for sure how Doc’s going to react, but I’m pretty sure he’s gonna flip. We’re kind of in a hurry here, but I really need to explain this to him.” He wished he had the opportunity to change into 1980s clothes, but that, unfortunately, was something he really couldn’t do (and it would probably sound stupid to Lorraine, so he didn’t mention it).   
Lorraine nodded. “I see,” she replied, quietly. “Don’t get into a row over this, please. If you’re best friends, I’d hate to see you strained over me.”   
Marty smiled, touched. “I’ll do what I can, Lorrie” he said. “But it’s mostly up to Doc.” He parked the car and blew his girlfriend a kiss before exiting.   
Doc, fortunately, didn’t notice that someone else was in the car. However, from the look on his face, Marty was sure the conversation wouldn’t go easy either way – his friend was already angry. “You’re late!” he exclaimed. “Don’t you have any concept of time?”   
Marty winced. “Sorry!” he replied. “Things… didn’t go the way I expected them to go!”   
Doc frowned, but then he shrugged it off, walking over to the DeLorean as he and Marty started to pull off the tarp. “Well, as long as your parents still got together and you’re still here, I’d say that we wouldn’t have to worry” he replied.   
Marty hesitated, then shook his head. “Actually… no.”   
Doc, having finished pulling the tarp off, looked at him with confusion. “What do you mean, ‘no’?”   
“I mean no” Marty replied. “My parents didn’t get together. Well, they did… but… they’re not the same as before.”   
“Naturally” Doc said. “The alterations you have made in changing the circumstances under which they met will likely change their personalities slightly, resulting in…”   
Marty cut in. “Doc, I don’t think you understand” he replied. “When I say ‘not the same’, I mean not the same. As in, George McFly is no longer my Dad.”   
Doc froze. “Explain,” he said, taking a deep breath, staring anxiously both at his friend and at his watch.   
Marty winced. This was the part he’d been dreading. “The night before we buried the love potion, I took some of it and put it into a Pepsi bottle” he said. “I _know_ , Doc, but I just couldn’t abandon my only chance to get Jennifer.”   
Doc sighed. “Go on” was the only thing he said.   
“Tonight I accidentally took the potion with me when I went to pick Lorraine up, mistaking it for an ordinary Pepsi bottle” Marty continued. “I drank it all just before I met up with her and, well, I guess I just fell head over heels for her.” Doc was dumbstruck, allowing Marty to rush through the rest of his tale. “I tried to resist her Doc, I really did. But she was just too lovely and passionate, and George didn’t show up and I had to save her from Biff… and then I just took her to the dance. I almost disappeared there when a guy tried to take her, but I managed to save her just in time and then I fainted. When I woke up, I looked at my ID here… turns out that I was my own father.” He took the papers and handed them over to the scientist, who still didn’t move. “See for yourself” he said.   
Doc remained silent for what seemed an eternity. Then, his eyes narrowed to slits and he stared at his friend. “Marty,” he said, slowly, “are you out of _your **DAMN MIND?!!”**_  
Marty winced at the ferocity of the older man. “No,” he replied, “but there was no other way to…”   
“There was no other way?” Doc shouted. “For heaven’s sake Marty, you are planning to _date your own mother!”_   
“I am already dating her, as a matter of fact” Marty corrected him. “And you didn’t seem to have any problem with that earlier.”   
“That was temporarily” Doc said. “She isn’t your mother yet, no, but she _will_ be, although I _highly_ doubt she will be now!”   
“Look at the papers!” Marty exclaimed. “I’m listed as my – our – son, right?”   
“Yes, you are” Doc admitted. “But that doesn’t mean it will work out, and certainly not that you’ve got to marry her! Aside from the moral issue, you marrying her will almost certainly cause a paradox, if not by erasing you then by other means! Marty, you’ve got to track down George McFly right away and salvage this situation!”   
“You can’t mean that!” Marty shouted. “I can’t get them together now – and for crying out loud, I don’t _want_ to! I love Lorraine!”   
“Marty, you are being absolutely irrational!” Doc snapped. “What on earth even gave you the idea that she was going to marry you – especially if she finds out you’re her son!”   
“More like _who_ on earth, Dr. Brown.”   
Marty and Doc turned to see an angry Lorraine walk up to them. “I gave Marty the idea,” she continued, taking her boyfriend’s arm, “because after some hesitation, I decided I did love him as well. And what gave you the idea you’ve got the right to complain about that?”   
“The space-time continuum does, and so do all common laws of morality” Doc said, indignantly. “Miss Baines, I realize your situation, but surely you cannot let one crush decide the future!”   
“Doc, it’s not just a crush” Marty insisted. “We love each other. I’d go mad if I couldn’t have her. Even if I’d have Jennifer to replace her… it wouldn’t be a fraction of what I have now. Lorraine is the love of my life.”   
“Oh, Marty…” Lorraine whispered, hugging him tightly. “And just for the record, Doctor Brown, I feel the same about Marty and George. George is kind of cute, I’ll give him that, but he’s too shy and a bit boring. Nice guy, sure, but not my ideal boyfriend.”   
Doc sighed. “We’re not talking about ideal situations here” he said. “This is a matter of responsibility. You have to marry George, like it or not.”   
“Why?” Lorraine argued, letting go of Marty to face Doc. “Because Marty wouldn’t exist otherwise? The license and photographs prove that’s hardly the case!”   
“Perhaps now,” Doc allowed, “but photographs show the most likely future as of this moment. They could change any time. I think it’s highly unlikely that such a genetically different Marty would be able to exist permanently.”   
“What do you know?” Marty exclaimed, angry. “You’ve only known about time travel for a week now! Any practical knowledge you have of time travel is as good as…”   
He then stopped mid-sentence, and collapsed.   
“Marty!” Lorraine shrieked, kneeling over her suddenly unconscious boyfriend. “Oh no, not again…”   
But it wasn’t again, or at least, it wasn’t very long again. After a few seconds, Marty opened his eyes and groaned. “I… ow… Lorraine…”   
“What’s happening?” Lorraine insisted. “Dr. Brown?”   
“I don’t know” Doc whispered, kneeling down as well. “I…”   
They suddenly fell still, as Doc and Lorraine realized at the same time they could look _through_ Marty. “No!” Lorraine shrieked. “Marty… don’t fade away… _please_!”   
For a moment, it looked like the teenager would fade. Then, he suddenly became solid again, and blinked. He let out a few deep breaths, trying to ensure himself that he wouldn’t get erased again. “That was… weird” he finally muttered, sitting up. “Almost like I was… changing, inside…”   
At that word, Doc stiffened and paled. “Genetics” he whispered. “Your genetic makeup is changing to adjust your new identity.”   
Lorraine frowned. “What does that mean?” she demanded.   
“It means that Marty is transforming into a different person” Doc explained. “From the son of George McFly, he is now his own son… and father. That will alter his DNA. Fascinating that he hasn’t disappeared despite that, though… the self-preservation effect of the space-time continuum must be making an enormous effort to prevent a paradox.”   
Marty and Lorraine exchanged glances, but then Marty grasped it. “It happened at the dance as well” he said. “After I fainted, I felt something similar.”   
Doc nodded. “It must be happening in shifts then” he said, and sighed. “Marty, I think this changes my perspective on things. If you’re already that far gone to being your own son… well, trying to reverse the process by getting your old parents together won’t do much good and could potentially endanger your life by putting you through that same dangerous procedure again. The self-preservation effect managed to save you the first time around, it may not do so a second time.” He sighed, obviously hating to admit what came next. “So I suppose your new relationship is essentially irreversible.”   
Marty slowly began to smile, standing back up. “You mean I essentially _have_ to marry Lorraine now?” he asked.   
“That’s right” Doc confirmed, sighing. “I suppose this means that your trip to the future is off, then – we can’t risk having you travel there now. If you or Lorraine or both leave 1955, you won’t be able to be born, erasing you anyway. Therefore, such a trip is dangerous, and of course, there’s no need for it anymore.”   
“Like hell there isn’t” Marty said. “I want to go back to the future, visit my own time… Doc, I understand I can’t live there, but this is the only chance I’m going to get to visit 1985 again!”   
“You’re right” Doc agreed. “I understand your feelings, but this might be for the best. Time travelling is dangerous, Marty, and can alter the future drastically leading to enormous changes, as we have now observed so astutely. You survived this first trip, but it was rather close.”   
“Perhaps” the teen allowed. “But a few quick trips to the future won’t hurt. And if time is going to change anyway… well, wouldn’t we be able to change it back if we had a working time machine?”   
“That’s right!” Lorraine said. “If something Marty or I do shouldn’t have been done originally and that should be fixed, we can see it going wrong in the future and change it in the past… right?”   
Doc nodded slowly. “That’s a good point” he admitted. “But I thought my future self only had one box of plutonium? Even if you take that back to 1955, it won’t get you very far.”   
“We can cross that bridge when we come to it” Marty said, optimistically. “And besides… we really should be leaving now. It’s getting later every minute.”   
“I think that’s normal, but you’re right” Doc agreed. “Let’s get going.” They ran over to the time machine, Lorraine rapidly taking place on the passenger’s seat and looking around with wonder. As Marty sat down next to her, Doc turned to him. “Let’s set your destination time” he said, forced to talk louder due to the wind. He pointed at the lower readout marked ‘Last Time Departed’. “This is the exact time you left. I’m sending you back at exactly the same time. It’ll be like you never left. Now, I painted a white line on the street waaay over there, that's where you start from. I've calculated the distance and wind resistance retroactive from the moment the lightning strikes, at exactly…” Doc checked his watch. “…six minutes and 52 seconds. When this alarm goes off, you hit the gas.”   
“Right” Marty said.   
“Okay, that’s everything” Doc said, stepping back. “Now you can…” He suddenly froze, as he touched his coat pocket. Marty gasped, suddenly realizing something. Oh no…   
And it was. Moments later, Doc took out a very familiar letter. “What’s the meaning of this?” he demanded.   
“You’ll find out in thirty years!” Marty shouted. Lorraine was looking at him with confusion, but he ignored her. If Doc wasn’t convinced now…   
He wasn’t. “It’s about the future, isn’t it?” the inventor insisted. “It’s information about the future! I’ve warned you about this kid, the consequences could be disastrous!” He started tearing up the letter.   
“That’s a risk you’ll have to take, your life-” Marty shouted. However, he was then cut off by a loud noise. Looking up, Marty saw a tree branch, struck by lightning, drop off a tree and disconnect the wire Doc had spun from the clock to the lamp pole. Both of them looked at each other in horror.   
“Great Scott!” Doc shouted. After some rapid thinking, he said: “You get the cable, I’ll throw the rope down to you!”   
“Right, I’ve got it!” Marty replied. As he saw Doc running towards the Courthouse, he blew Lorraine a kiss and ran over to where the cable had ended up. The lightning was cracking around him and the wind was blowing. Marty felt his veins rushing with adrenalin. When was this frantic night ever going to end?


	10. Returning Home... Or Not?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is the chapter in which Marty and Lorraine return to the future. It's mostly the same as in the movie, only the thoughts of the characters are different, and of course, Lorraine is present, making it a fairly different story. Please review.

**8: Chapter Eight**

_November 12, 1955_  
 _09:59 PM PST_  
 _Hill Valley, California_

Lorraine sighed, staring out of the strange car at her boyfriend. From what she could see, Marty had finished helping Doc tow up the cable and was now shouting something at him. She couldn’t hear what, but she figured it was probably about that envelope the inventor had torn up.  
She wondered what was in it. It had to be very important for Marty, or he wouldn’t have become so emotional about it, or risked his – their, she supposed – chances to get to the future for it… and, admittedly, this had to be pretty important to her as well, considering she was focusing on Marty rather than on the strange future vehicle she was sitting in. It was something about the future… something that had happened to Dr. Brown… but what could it be?  
Just then, Marty was apparently persuaded to leave, and anxiously ran back to the car. Lorraine made sure she was prepared for departure as Marty jumped down in the driver’s seat, closed the odd-looking door and threw the car into reverse. In a remarkable swift maneuver, he placed the car so that it was headed into the opposite direction and raced down the street.  
Lorraine wondered whether to stay silent – after all, Marty had more to do than to answer her questions – but he was the one to speak first. “I suppose you were wondering what all that fuss was about.”  
“Well, yeah” Lorraine admitted.  
“You see, I didn’t go back in time on purpose” Marty explained. “Good as it has turned out for me, a week ago I would have never volunteered to go to the ‘50s. It only happened because I wasn’t paying attention to the fact that the car was a time machine… because I was fleeing from some Libyan terrorists who had just killed Doc.”  
Lorraine paled. “Oh my…” she whispered. “For what?”  
“For going back on a bargain he’d made with them about making a bomb from their stolen plutonium” Marty said. “It’s a bit complicated, but those terrorists asked Doc to build them a bomb, so he used the plutonium for the time machine and gave them a bomb casing with used pinball machine parts. They must have tracked him down, and killed him in front of my eyes. I managed to escape, but as I was on the run, I went back to ’55. I’ve been trying to tell Doc about the terrorists all week, but he won’t listen.”  
Lorraine let out a deep breath of horror and fright. “That’s terrible” she whispered. “Isn’t there anything we can do?”  
“I’ve been wracking my brain about what I can do” Marty muttered, half-keeping his eyes on the road as they approached their target. “It’s just that we’re so busy now… if only I had more time…”  
It hit them both at the same moment, and almost caused them to miss their start line – the car managed a shaky turn and eventually planted them on the right spot, with both of them catching their breaths. “Wait – we’ve got all the time we want, we’ve got a time machine!” Marty breathed. “We can just go back earlier and warn him! I – wait, this first.” He got out of the car, and Lorraine heard him wriggling with something on the roof before he slipped back inside a few moments later.  
“How much?” Lorraine inquired.  
“How much time?” Marty asked. She nodded. “Ten minutes ought to do it, I guess.” He started putting in a new time, presenting them with a new destination at 1:24 AM.  
“Ten minutes?” Lorraine said, frowning. “I don’t know, Marty, but first of all that’s eleven minutes, not ten – and second, aren’t you cutting it rather close with that?”  
“Perhaps” Marty contemplated. “But I really don’t want to spend so much time thinking about that… but maybe twenty would be –”  
A sudden noise – or rather, lack of noise – made him freeze. Lorraine figured the engine had stopped. “Uh… this isn’t good, is it?” she said, uncomfortably.  
“That would be the understatement of the year!” Marty exclaimed. “Come on come on come on!” He urged the gas pedal on. “Work, you stupid thing, work!”  
“Not helping” Lorraine remarked.  
“Then you try something” Marty muttered harshly. Lorraine knew better than to take the sharp tone personally – her boyfriend was under a lot of stress right now – but it still stung. She forgot about it, though, when the alarm clock rang. Marty froze for a fraction of a second before doubling his efforts. “C’mon c’mon c’mon argh!”  
That last word was accompanied by Marty’s head hitting the steering wheel – and the engine restarting! Marty looked up in amazement, glanced sideways for a moment, and then hit the gas so hard that they nearly tumbled over from the sudden change of speed. The car – Lorraine believed Marty had called it a ‘DeLorean’ – raced forwards, accelerating rapidly. Marty kept his eyes tight on the road as if possessed. “Faster” he whispered. “C’mon…”  
The car raced through the streets, indeed accelerating swiftly. Marty was shifting gears, and soon the car’s speedometer climbed into the forties and even fifties. The clock, however, clicked from 10.02 to 10.03, and Lorraine felt the anticipation rising. “Marty…” she whispered.  
Marty must have heard the fear and nervousness in her voice, because he shot a quick glance at her and then squeezed her hand. He tried to let go afterwards, but Lorraine wouldn’t let him. Resigned, Marty allowed her to lightly squeeze his hand while he continued to accelerate into the sixties.  
It was only when the Courthouse itself came into view that Marty wriggled his hand free and moved it back to the steering wheel. Lorraine offered no protest this time. Instead, she looked forwards, at the speedometer marking 85, at the cable in the distance, and at the theater behind it, and wondered why, besides holding strongly to the edges of her seat, she wasn’t freaking out.  
The answer, of course, was simple. She was sitting next to Marty McFly, the boy of her dreams, her knight in shining armor – or rather life preserver. With him next to her, Lorraine felt oddly calm. She was totally confident that if Marty said it would work, it would work. And even if it wouldn’t, even if worst came to worst and they died… well, at least they’d die together. And probably cause the space-time continuum to mess up, but that would be for Doctor Brown to worry about.  
Nevertheless, Marty didn’t have his focus on the idea of dying. Instead, his eyes remained fixed on the road, as the time machine climbed up to 88. However, he did notice Doc Brown sliding down the wire running from the Courthouse, and running over to remove some branch. Fear gripped both of their hearts. “Doc” Marty whispered, frantically. He kept his eyes fixed on the Courthouse as long as he could, then, as they neared the cable, whispered a quick and unnecessary: “Brace yourself” before doing the same.  
The clock turned to 10:04, and out of the window Lorraine could just see lightning striking the clock tower. Electricity raced down the cables, which Doc connected just in time. The lightning raced down to the cable over the road, the hook connected, a light flashed around them…  
…and they were no longer in 1955. 

oooooooo

As the blinding flash ended, Lorraine and Marty only had a brief second to look around before the car crashed into the building they were headed to. The DeLorean came to a quick and violent halt, and Marty felt like he was getting thrown out of the window – he was certainly lurched tightly against the steering wheel. Only after a few seconds was he able to relax enough to reverse and drive back to the rough place he had been when the flash happened. He and Lorraine looked at each other.  
“Did we make it?” Lorraine whispered.  
In response, Marty opened the gull-wing door and flashed a broad smile as he saw the Bank of America clock switch from 1:23 to 1:24, and noticed everything around it – the run-down parking lot, the old Courthouse, Red sleeping on a bench. “This is great” he whispered. “Everything looks great!”  
“Not too great, if you ask me” Lorraine commented, looking out of the window. “I can see it’s changed, though.”  
Her comment brought Marty back to earth. “Yeah, I suppose the town square has seen better times” he admitted. “But it’s still home, and I’ll miss it, you know? Even if it wasn’t perfect.”  
“I understand” Lorraine said, patting his hand. “You’re giving up so much for me. I don’t mind you having nostalgia at all.”  
Marty smiled lovingly at her, and then remembered the time on the Bank of America clock, which he checked with the time circuits. “1.25” he whispered. “All right, so let’s…”  
His sentence was cut off prematurely when he tried to hit the gas and the engine stalled. “No” he whispered. “No, no, no! Not again!”  
Suddenly, a van came driving by. Marty took a good look at it and its occupants and froze. “The Libyans” he whispered.  
“They are the terrorists?” Lorraine asked.  
Marty nodded. “I – we’ve got to save Doc!” He rushed out of the car and across the parking lot, in the direction the Libyans had gone to. Behind him, he saw Lorraine hesitate an instant, then get out of the car and run after him. Abandoning the DeLorean, they ran off to the mall together.


	11. In Which The Doc's Fate Is Revealed

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, so after about two years, I'm finally adding another chapter to this story because I was prompted to do so and I was in a bit of a Marty/Lorraine mood again. Not much, but enough to update. So, here you go: three new chapters.

_October 26, 1985_  
_01:33 AM PDT  
_ _Hill Valley, California_

Lorraine didn’t think she had ever run so fast in her life. Marty, unfortunately, wasn’t forgiving whenever she tried to slow down, and she knew why he wasn’t. His best friend could be about to die – they both knew they had to be as quick as possible.

And they were, but it still wasn’t enough. Marty and Lorraine were approaching a sign saying ‘Lone Pine Mall’ when the sounds of gunfire made Marty double his speed towards it. He stopped at the sign, staring helplessly at the scene unfolding before them. When Lorraine arrived a few moments thereafter, she saw Doc Brown lying motionless on the ground. The next instant, she noticed _another Marty_ held at gunpoint by the terrorists. For a moment, Lorraine wondered whether he was going to die.

Fortunately, though, the terrorist’s gun jammed, allowing Other Marty the opportunity to jump into a DeLorean and race off. As he did, Marty – her Marty – rolled down the hill and stumbled into the mall parking lot. She climbed down, following him, and was in time to see the other DeLorean light up and disappear through time. The terrorists crashed into a photo booth the moment thereafter.

She couldn’t even remotely pretend to have understood what had just happened.

Both of them stared at the scene for a while, breathless, and then Marty got to his feet and ran over to Doc’s body. Lorraine followed him, and knelt down next to him as he stared into the inventor’s lifeless eyes and then tears filled his own. “Oh… no…”

Seeing Marty begin to cry, Lorraine instinctively reached out for him and gently pressed Marty’s head against her chest. Her boyfriend was sobbing uncontrollably, and Lorraine somehow felt a bit motherly towards him… and yet it was very similar to how she had felt that first time she had met him, when Marty had been lying unconscious in her bedroom. Like she was meant to be with him, to care for him. It was all very much a case of mixed feelings. She gently planted a kiss on his forehead and stroked his hair. “Ssh” she whispered. “Just let it out.”

After comforting Marty for a while, though, which did cause his sobbing to decrease at least in audibility, Lorraine sensed movement next to them. When she looked aside she gasped. Doc Brown was sitting up, and staring around bewildered. “What…” she whispered.

He noticed her, and smiled. At that moment, Marty noticed too, and pulled himself loose of Lorraine’s grasp. “You’re alive!” he whispered, amazed.

Doc smirked at his astonished friend and ripped open his lab coat, revealing a bullet-proof vest. “Bullet-proof vest” Marty whispered. “But how did you know? I never got the chance to… tell…”

Smiling, the inventor took a piece of paper out of the pockets of his lab coat, unfolding it for his friend, who took it and looked at it. Looking over Marty’s shoulder, Lorraine realized it was a letter, written by Marty, but looking old and crumpled. It clearly outlined the events of this night. Lorraine realized it had to be the letter Dr. Brown had found in his pocket back in 1955 (strange to think that was thirty years ago now).

Marty looked at Doc and slowly began to smile. “What about all that talk,” he insisted, “about screwing up future events… the space-time continuum?”

Doc shrugged. “Well, I figured, ‘what the hell’.”

Marty smiled broadly now, and all but threw himself at his friend, hugging him. Lorraine watched the two, a soft smile curving her lips. The hug lasted a few seconds, until Marty, to Lorraine’s surprise, parted and embraced her in turn. She grinned and kissed him. Although – or perhaps because – his hair was messed up and tears were still on his cheeks, Lorraine still thought Marty was the handsomest guy in the world.

Now grinning, Marty turned to Doc. “You remember Lorraine, right?” he said.

Doc rolled his eyes, as they all stood up – the inventor more strained than the others, as he still felt the repercussions of the bullets. “Of course I do” he said, and then added with a playful smile: “After all, I was at your wedding.”

Lorraine’s eyes widened, and Marty’s did the same. “What?” they blurted out in unison.

“For some reason, my theory back in 1955, logical as it might be, did not hold truth” Doc said. “From events I’ve seen since, I can conclude that for some reason, time travelers do return after they travel to the future, although it might still be dangerous to spend prolonged time in that future. The two of you returned the same night you went away, and, well, the rest is history.”

“So, basically, I’m no longer in immediate danger if we stay here?” Marty asked.

“And our future selves are around… and married?” Lorraine added.

“Yes, yes and yes” Doc confirmed. “But I wouldn’t recommend staying longer than necessary, and I’d prefer if you wouldn’t look up your other selves either. In fact, I was planning on leaving right away – _with_ the two of you, if you want to.”

Marty and Lorraine exchanged glances. “Where?” Marty asked.

“To the future, of course” Doc replied. “I’ve wanted to go to the future ever since I invented the flux capacitor. This gives me the best opportunity to do this. However, if I leave you behind and go, say, thirty years into the future, you two would spend thirty years here, and I’m fairly certain that by that point the time ripple would have caught up, putting you in the dangerous situation you’re trying to avoid. Therefore, to go through with the journey, I should either take you along, _or_ drop you off in 1955, go to the future, and then return to 1955 to deliver the time machine, after which you, Marty, would drive me back to the future and return to your point of origin.”

“That sounds complicated” Lorraine said. “I suppose it’s better if we go along then.”

In response, Marty yawned and shook his head. “Doc, Lorraine… I’m sorry to say so, but I’m not up for another trip like this. The day has been hell – no offense, Lorrie, I don’t mean it like _that_ – and I’d like to catch some sleep, if I can.”

“Yeah, I wouldn’t mind some time to rest either” Lorraine admitted. “But if we can’t go home – to our future home, I mean…”

“You two could sleep at my home” Doc suggested. “I wouldn’t mind it for one night, and a night’s rest wouldn’t endanger your position just yet. If you stay longer than a day, you might end up in trouble, but in this situation…” He shrugged. “Shouldn’t be an issue.”

“Are you sure, Doc?” Marty asked. “No offense, but I don’t think we could all fit into your garage…”

“My _garage_?” Doc replied. “What on earth makes you think I’d leave you to sleep in my garage! I meant at my house – my mansion!”

“Wait a minute, Doc!” Marty exclaimed. “As far as I know, your mansion burned down in the early ‘60s. Are you telling me that never happened here?” As the inventor nodded, Marty grinned. “Heavy.”

Lorraine wondered what he meant by that – who would be concerned about how much a mansion weighed, after all? – but Doc took it in stride so she did, too. They walked off to Dr. Brown’s van, and when Doc opened the door, a sheepdog jumped out.

“Einstein!” Doc exclaimed. “I’d forgotten all about you!” He petted the dog, who barked enthusiastically at his owner.

“I can’t blame you, Doc” Marty said, petting the animal in turn. “Lorraine, meet Einstein, the Doc’s dog. Einstein, meet Lorraine.”

“Hi, Einstein” Lorraine said, patting the dog on his head. The animal looked at her, then let out a soft whine of confusion.

“He’s not used to seeing you this young” Doc said. “It’s all right, Einie.” He gently pushed Einstein away from Marty and Lorraine and guided the dog back in the van. The young sheepdog jumped over the chairs into the back of the van, giving the three of them the opportunity to sit in front – Doc at the wheel, Lorraine in the center and Marty at the window.

As they drove towards the Brown mansion, the three time travelers were quiet, each reminiscing – or at least, Lorraine thought they were reminiscing until she heard something vaguely like a snore coming from the seat next to her. Looking up, she saw Marty had fallen asleep, cuddled against the window. She smiled, remembering the day they had first met and how she had just sat there, staring at him for hours. In her opinion, Marty looked so cute asleep.

When she said that out loud, Doc smiled as well. “I have to admit that your relationship worked out much better than I thought it would when Marty told me about it” he said. “You’re still together now, happily married after twenty-… after over twenty years. I suspect the future you’ll be missing Marty, though. The new Marty, that is.”

Lorraine whistled at the ‘twenty years’ part. “In that case, I suppose we’ve got a lot to look forward to” she said, gently patting Marty’s head. Her boyfriend stirred, but didn’t open his eyes. “Can’t you tell me some more?”

“I thought I made the answer to that question clear already” Doc replied, at which Lorraine sighed. That might have been true, but she didn’t like it.

When the van pulled into the driveway of what she knew to be the Brown mansion, Lorraine gently nudged Marty. “Marty, wake up” she began. No reaction. “Marty, wake up, we’re there.” Nothing.

Doc chuckled, slowing the van down and parking it in the garage. “Over the past years, I’ve found Marty Klein impossible to wake” he remarked. “But give it your best efforts. I’ll go inside and prepare some hot chocolate for you both.”

“Thanks, Doctor Brown” Lorraine replied.

“Call me Doc” the inventor responded. He got out of the van and the garage and walked off towards the house. Lorraine looked after him for a moment, then gently shook Marty again. Although Marty stirred, he again didn’t wake up.

Lorraine was just thinking of calling it off and carrying Marty to the house when she got an idea. Smiling mischievously, she leaned over and gently pressed her lips against Marty’s, kissing him. Although at first it didn’t work either, after a few seconds Marty finally opened his eyes and smiled at her.

“Did I fall asleep?” he asked.

“For a few minutes” Lorraine replied. “We’re at Doctor Brown’s house – Doc’s. He’s going to prepare some hot cocoa for us.”

“Sounds good” Marty said. “Although I doubt it’ll taste as good as that kiss you just gave me.”

Lorraine blushed and nudged Marty in the chest. “Charmer.” They got out of the van chuckling and walked off to the mansion, holding hands and occasionally smiling at each other.


	12. Bonding In Bed

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Marty and Lorraine, talking in bed. Not sure if it's cleaner or less clean than it sounds. That depends on your imagination, I guess.

_October 26, 1985_   
_02:15 AM PDT_   
_Hill Valley, California_

The hot cocoa was good, although after a while, Marty started yawning again. Doc guided them upstairs and into a bedroom with two beds in it and roughly half a yard of space between them. “This is my guest room” he told them. “I’ve got some pajamas for you, Marty, but I’m afraid I don’t have any night clothes in your size, Lorraine. Your daughters don’t come over nearly as often as Marty does.”

“It’s all right” Lorraine assured him, even as she couldn’t help but wonder what names those daughters would have, what they would look like, and all other possible detail she could imagine.

Doc nodded, and after Marty had changed and they had both gone to their beds, he announced that he’d be in the garage that night, preparing the time machine for tomorrow and catching some sleep himself. After that, he exited the room, leaving the two of them alone together.

Lorraine lay still for roughly a minute after Doc had gone off. Then, she jumped out of her bed and started pushing it into Marty’s direction.

“What are you doing?” he asked, surprised.

“I want to be close to you” Lorraine replied. “Don’t you agree?”

“Well, yeah, but…” Marty shrugged. “I’m not sure if we should. Even if we aren’t going to do anything but kiss and cuddle, Doc won’t like it if he finds out.”

“Well, we _are_ married now” Lorraine said, causing Marty to chuckle. “Technically, he can’t do much against us.” She put the bed next to Marty’s, pulled back the blankets and got back under the sheets. Marty turned towards her and they lay next to each other, smiling.

“Maybe you’re right” Marty said, softly. “And I don’t mind, really. Gives me the chance to get you back for what you did the day we met.” When Lorraine looked at him surprised, he reached out and gently squeezed her thigh.

She chuckled. “Good point,” she said, stroking Marty’s left arm in his soft fleece pajamas. “Tell me about your life. You know everything about me, but I know very little about you.”

“Well, most of what I thought I knew about you turned out to be total nonsense” Marty pointed out. “If you really were what your older self – your _other_ self, now – said you were, you would never have fallen in love with me.”

“I see” Lorraine said. “All right, then we’ll both tell each other about our pasts. How does that sound?”

“Better” Marty replied, yawning. “I’m still tired, though… well, I guess that in a nice comfy bed and with you at my side, it could have been worse.” Lorraine smiled. “Okay… I was born on June 9th, 1968. I had two siblings, Dave and Linda. I might still have them now, but the picture had a lot more kids on it.”

“I know” Lorraine said. “Want me to fetch it for you?”

“Nah, we can deal without it” Marty said. “Anyway, well, I didn’t always get along with my parents. Dad – George – was a spineless wimp, while you – well, the other you, my Mom – drank a lot and scolded me for being in a relationship with Jennifer because you thought a girl calling a boy was just asking for trouble.”

Lorraine’s eyes widened. “You’re kidding!” she exclaimed.

“Afraid not” Marty replied, sighing. “I understand that wasn’t you, Lorrie, and will never be you – or I wouldn’t have considered dating you. But even so…”

Lorraine hugged him tightly. “Marty, I’m sorry…”

“It’s all right” Marty responded, gently stroking her hair. “It’s not your fault anyway.” Seeing his girlfriend was upset, he continued: “I met Doc when I was seven. He saved me after some bullies put me in the trunk of a car. We became friends soon after, and he kind of grew into a second father to me.”

“Nice to hear somebody cared for you, at least” Lorraine replied, although she still felt upset. “When did you meet your girlfriend… Jennifer? Or did you have more girlfriends?”

“I won’t say I never looked at other girls, but Jennifer was my first _true_ girlfriend” Marty said, sighing. From the expression on his face, Lorraine could tell he was remembering her dumping him. “We met in early June of 1982. I was almost fourteen then, and when we first looked at one another… it was like lightning. Love at first sight, we couldn’t keep our eyes off each other. I thought we were going to be together forever.” He snorted. “Guess I’m pretty bad at predicting the future.”

“Do you regret it?” Lorraine asked. “That break-up with Jennifer?”

Marty didn’t respond for a while, which made her think he hadn’t heard her. She was about to repeat the question when he spoke. “I can’t say that it doesn’t still sting” he said. “But it’s been a week. And you… you’re wonderful. You’re everything Jennifer was and so much more besides. I feel love for you on a level that I, deep down, don’t think Jennifer and I really had.”

Lorraine blushed. “I feel the same way about you, Marty” she said, kissing his cheek. “I’ve had so many boyfriends before, but somewhere, I’ve felt from the moment I saw my father carry you into our house, unconscious, helpless, and adorable… that you were the one for me. That we were destined to be together.”

Marty stared at her and raised an eyebrow. “Are you sure?” he asked. “After all, you’ve got to remember – I never really developed feelings for you until that potion. Maybe I had some, deep down, but…” He chuckled. “If we were meant to be together, if we were truly soul mates, we wouldn’t have been mother and son, would we?”

“Perhaps not” Lorraine said. “But perhaps the genetic link we share increases our bond. I certainly feel at ease when I’m around you in a way I’ve never felt before. It feels like you’re so much like me… so close to me in so many ways…”

“Perhaps” Marty considered. “Even so, us being brother and sister would make more sense than being mother and son. Considering time travel was needed to bring us together…”

“…then it’s really special that we _did_ get together, despite all odds, and it proves it was meant to be” Lorraine replied, smirking.

Marty chuckled. “I can’t convince you of that, can I?” he said. “But you can’t convince me either – it’s just impossible for me to view the whole past week as if we were meant to be. If we were… well, I might have stayed that first night then. And if I hadn’t drank that potion…”

“We still might have gotten together” Lorraine argued. “Come on, Marty. Can you honestly tell me you never felt… interested in me?”

Marty blushed. “Well, I think certainly liked what I saw when I woke up on Saturday” he admitted. “You looked really pretty in that purple dress. It wasn’t really until you tried to kiss me that my mind decided that viewing you as my mom should have the upper hand, rather than viewing you as a cute girl.”

Lorraine smiled. “So you’re saying that near-kiss activated some kind of anti-incestuous defense mechanism, one you carried with you throughout the week, and that it wouldn’t have come to the forefront if I hadn’t been so forward right away?”

“Basically, yeah” Marty said. “And even after that… well, looking back, I really was freaked out by the idea of my mom squeezing my thigh, but I was even more freaked out by the idea of sitting down and accepting it… even if I was tempted to. I really didn’t want to accept being hit on by my mother.” He sighed. “I never should have left. Not only did I confuse you, it didn’t change anything in the end. If I’d stayed, our relationship would have had the chance to develop gradually, or not at all, and then it would have been right over with rather than that confusing week.”

“Well, I doubt you could have convinced yourself to stay, and it all turned well in the end” Lorraine said. “And that’s the main point, right?” She ran her fingers along Marty’s throat, resting them under the layers of his pajama just on his chest. Marty sighed.

Then, he noticed she was getting her fingers in rather deep, and smiled bemused. “What are you doing?” he asked. “You’re not trying to ravage me, are you?”

Lorraine blushed fiercely. “Of course not” she insisted. “I just wanted to feel your chest, that’s all.”

“Ah” Marty replied.

Lorraine stared somewhat awkwardly at him, having realized a question. “Marty, did you and Jennifer… did you ever… do… you know?”

“Do I know what?”

Lorraine mustered all her courage. “Marty, are you a virgin?”

Marty hesitated, then nodded. “Yeah” he said. “I considered it when Jennifer and I were going to be at the lake tomorrow night, but decided not to ask her for three reasons – one, I was personally reluctant; two – if anyone ever found out and told people about it, Mom would ground me for life, and three, I wasn’t sure how Jen would react.” Lorraine noticed he said ‘mom’ rather than ‘you’. She wasn’t sure whether Marty himself had noticed.

“And… you?” Marty then asked. “How about you?”

“Yes, I am” Lorraine replied. “Of all the boys I dated, I never really had the wish to do… such things to them. And I didn’t date _that_ many boys.”

“How many did come before me?” Marty asked, smiling. “We were going to talk about that, weren’t we?”

“We were” Lorraine agreed. “Well… the first boy I really dated was back in 1950, a guy named Tom Collins. I was only twelve at the time, so it was my first real crush. We dated for a few weeks, and then the relationship – if there ever was one – petered out. I didn’t really start dating again until 1953. By that time, I had noticed boys at school were taking an interest in me.”

“Who wouldn’t?” Marty said, brushing his hand against her cheek. “You’re gorgeous, after all.”

Lorraine blushed. “Are you going to remain that sappy all night?”

“I suppose it’s normal for people who’ve just fallen in love… and don’t tell me I’m the only one” Marty said. “I just like showing that I love you.”

“And I like you showing it” Lorraine said. “My second date was little under two years ago, with Mike Clark. We dated for a few weeks, and with him I had my first kiss. And after that… well, some sort of pattern eventually set in, in which I’d date a boy for up to three months, we’d lose interest in each other, and break up, I’d go through a month or so of being single and then find another guy. I believe I must have dated up to nine boys during the past two years, and flirted with quite some more. When you came into my life, though, I’d been single for five weeks.”

“I see” Marty said. “No regrets about having to date me for, well, the rest of your life?”

“If I had, I would have complained earlier” Lorraine said. “You’re different from all the others. They’d never get around the town square on a rolling board and make Biff crash into manure and punch him out… you’re special, Marty McFly. And that’s not just because you’re from thirty years in the future.”

“I pretty much have to be special, or otherwise I wouldn’t have won the heart of the town beauty” Marty agreed. “How about Biff, though? How long has he been bothering you?”

Lorraine winced – she clearly preferred not to talk about this. “He was set back two years ago and ended up in my class” she said. “He took an interest in me around that time – as many boys did, like I said. The problem with Biff was that he was persistent about it. I told him off politely, as I didn’t want to date someone as aggressive as he was. For some time, he genuinely made efforts to win me over, but after it became clear that I wasn’t going to listen to him, he just started pestering me. It wasn’t just me, there were plenty of girls he was bothering… but I’m pretty sure I was the main target. He just kept coming around and teasing me.”

“As if that was going to convince you” Marty snorted. “You really seemed disgusted by him on Monday. Can’t blame you, even. The guy’s a freak. He was still hitting on… Mom… back in 1985.”

“Really?” Lorraine said, surprised.

“Yup” Marty confirmed. “Or at least, every time he saw me he said ‘say hi to your mom for me’.” Marty clenched his hands into fists. “I hated not being able to do anything about that bastard.”

“It’s all in the past” Lorraine soothed him, putting a hand on his shoulder. “In more ways than one. Your life has changed, right? You won’t be dealing with 1980s Biff again for a long time, and when you do, it will be a wholly different dynamic.”

“One positive aspect – well, besides you of course – of moving to the ‘50s” Marty muttered. “I’d still go crazy without access to a time machine, though. I need my rock and roll at least weekly, if not daily.”

“Rock and roll?” Lorraine asked, frowning.

“My favorite music” Marty said, grinning. “I’ll have to introduce you to it soon. I think you’ll like it – Mom never did, but, well, I’m not sure how much of her preferences and dislikes to apply to you anymore.”

“Good point” Lorraine said. “I wouldn’t know the answer, though.” She smiled tenderly at him. “Marty, do you think we’ll end up happy together?”

“We _are_ happy together” Marty replied, cuddling closer against her warm body and the blanket. Lorraine could feel his chest pressing against her breasts. For a moment, she wished for Marty to touch them, but she realized he’d probably reject that idea.

“I know” she finally said. “But you know what I mean.”

“I do” Marty said, stroking her hair. “I think we will. The deep feelings for you I’ve developed tonight… they aren’t going to go away soon, and if we can keep them up, I don’t think they’ll have to go away at all. We’ll have our fights and disagreements for sure, but I love you now and I think I’ll love you forever.”

“Marty, that’s so sweet” Lorraine said. “I’ll always love you too. You, and our kids…” She shuddered. “I can’t bear the thought of being a mother.”

“It’s hard for me to think of fathering your children as well” Marty admitted. “I mean, sure, I enjoy kissing you and cuddling against you, but you’re dressed now. The thought of seeing you naked… of… having sex with you…”

“Yeah, I’m reluctant on that as well” Lorraine said. “But we don’t have to do that right away – heck, if we would, my Dad would go crazy. It’s only for after we are married.”

“Married.” Marty pondered the idea. “When we do get married, I want you to wear this dress as your wedding dress. Not only for nostalgia, but you look incredibly hot in it.”

Lorraine grinned. “Marty.” She lightly nudged him in his chest. “I’m sure that if we look hard enough, we can find a real wedding dress to equal this one. Although I admit that I’m fond of it too, and of the suit you were wearing.”

“Really?” Marty asked. “You like me in it?”

“You look adorable in it” Lorraine told him. “But you look handsome in these pajamas, too. I think everything looks good on you.”

“That’s a really nice thing to say, Lorrie” Marty said, smiling. “Let me reward you for it.” He started kissing her, caressing her sides with his hands while gently coupling his tongue with hers. Lorraine ran her hands through his hair and through his neck, even going down his back somewhat. They didn’t really make love passionately – their speed was low and their mutual treatment gentle. But that made the experience all the more enjoyable.

After a few minutes, Marty stopped kissing her and simply pressed his head against her chest, below her chin. Lorraine continued to stroke his hair until she realized he had fallen asleep.

Looking at her dreamboat, Lorraine sighed. After that long, stressful week, she finally had the boy she really wanted. She smiled tenderly at him, lying so deeply pressed against her, and wrapped her arms around his neck before leaning back. It might be an unnecessary precaution, but now that she finally had him, Lorraine was not going to let anyone take the love of her life away from her again.

And within a few minutes, she, too, was sound asleep.


	13. Initial Relapses

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Final one of these chapters for the time being. I'll await the response, and then I'll probably upload the other ones as well.

_October 26, 1985_  
_10:10 AM PDT  
_ _Hill Valley, California_

Marty McFly blinked, as he slowly began to come to. He felt oddly comfortable, with someone’s hands around him. He tried to move, but couldn’t, not really. Wondering who was there, he croaked: “Mom?” Swallowing, he added: “Is that you?”

“There there now,” a soft, loving, feminine voice said. “Just relax.”

Marty smiled. “I… had a strange dream” he murmured, as the details began to return to him. A blush crept onto his face, as he remembered dreaming he’d gone back in time and fallen in love with his own mother due to a love potion. “It was about time travel” he finally settled upon, not wanting to give away such details to what had been the subject of his dream.

“I see” his mother said, sounding oddly young and loving. “To 1955?”

“That’s right” Marty muttered, confused. “How.. how did you know?”

His mother gently ruffled his hair. “Marty” she said, softly, “that wasn’t a dream.”

For a moment, he thought she was kidding him. He kept thinking that until she leaned in and, in what was by now a familiar maneuver, kissed him with a passion that could only exist between lovers.

Marty’s eyes popped open wide, and to his surprise he noticed that he was indeed looking at the subject of his dreams – his mother, aged 17. Suddenly horrified, he tore away from the kiss and rolled over.

“Marty!” Lorraine exclaimed, upset and concerned. “Is something wrong?”

In response, Marty just kept rolling away from her – but even with two beds against each other that couldn’t persist forever. He fell off, and was fully awakened as he hit the relatively hard floor of the bedroom. Blinking, he stared at Lorraine. “Go away” he muttered.

Lorraine sighed. “Marty… sweetheart…”

“No” Marty insisted. “We… we shouldn’t.” Memories were pouring into his brain of yesterday, of the sheer joy he had experienced at being with Lorraine, but he was resisting them. “We’re related” he insisted.

“I know” Lorraine said, her voice so sweet and seductive Marty felt compelled to listen to her even if he didn’t want to. “But that was the case too yesterday, and then you were the one to beg me to date you, remember?”

Marty nodded. “Lorraine, I don’t want to insult you…”

Lorraine smiled gently at him and walked over to him, taking his hand in hers. “Marty, I understand how you feel” she said. “I understand you need space in our relationship, especially since ours is a… unique one. But please, don’t look at me as if I’m some kind of perverted monster.”

Marty shook his head. “I wouldn’t want to accuse you of being that” he said, sighing. “Perhaps I reacted a little too fast. It’s just that when I came to, and realized everything…”

“I understand” Lorraine said, patting his hand. “That could have happened to me, too. But… Marty, I love you. I don’t want our relationship to end.”

Marty hesitated for a moment, then nodded. “I don’t want it to end either” he said, standing up and sitting next to her. He nervously put his arm around her, somehow fearing a rejection after what he’d just done. “I – I love you too, Lorraine. It’s just that for a moment, I didn’t realize it.”

Lorraine nodded. “That’s all right, Marty” she said, opening her arms to embrace him. “Friends?”

“More than friends” Marty corrected, grinning, before hugging and kissing her. Lorraine returned the gesture, and they both smiled with relief that things were all right again between them.

Soon, though, Marty smiled somewhat uncomfortably, realizing something. “So… are we going to go downstairs now?”

“Uh, yeah” Lorraine said. “Why? Is something the matter?”

Marty blushed. “Not really… but I’m wearing pyjama’s right now. I need to change.”

Lorraine nodded, blushing in turn. “I see” she said. “Do you want me to leave the room?” From the look on her face, she was hesitant to do that, and Marty wondered if requesting that she would leave would make her even more reluctant while dating him. He mentally cursed himself for being so rejecting with her – not just this morning, but the entire past week in 1955. They didn’t need to start their new relationship with a row!

“You can stay” he finally said. “We’re going to end up married, after all, and you did see me without pants on the day we met.” As Lorraine blushed again, something suddenly occurred to Marty. “You didn’t take any more clothes off while I was asleep then, did you? Putting them back on later, before I woke up?”

Lorraine soon guessed what he meant. “No…” she muttered, casting her eyes down. “Well… not really. I have to admit, though, that when you were lying there in your underwear, I was kind of tempted to see what you’d look like… you know, without them. Or without your shirt, for that matter.”

Marty blushed, wondering if there was a realistic chance that he’d woken up naked that day, and what his reaction to Lorraine would have been then. Fortunately, his young mother had had enough decency not to go that far with a boy she’d only just met.

Hoping to distract them both from the matter which was making them uncomfortable, Marty walked over to his clothes, taking them back to the bed and taking off his pyjamas. He was halfway down taking off the pants when he noticed Lorraine looking at him with the intensity she’d stared at him throughout the meal in her parents’ house. “Lorrie,” he began, sighing, “I can’t blame you for looking ‘cause I’d probably do the same with you… but do you have to… stare, like that?”

Lorraine nodded, and kept her looks to herself from then on, only occasionally casting an admiring glance at Marty’s half-naked body as he finished getting dressed and put his 1980s clothes on. Afterwards, he walked over to her. “Well, down we go” he said, awkwardly.

His girlfriend nodded, and they walked down the stairs after nearly taking the wrong turn – Marty knew some things about Doc’s mansion, but he still wasn’t entirely familiar with it. When they got down to the living room, though, Doc was nowhere to be seen. The only indicator he’d been there was a note lying on the main table.

“Working in the lab” Marty read. “Will be back at 12 or 12.30. Doc.” He stared at Lorraine. “Looks like we’ll have some more time for ourselves this morning.”

“Apparently so” Lorraine agreed.

“What would you like for breakfast?” Marty asked. For a moment, he wondered whether he should ask that – after all, Lorraine, being a ‘50s girl, was even more used to the woman being the one to prepare meals than he was. Then again, they were in someone else’s home, and Marty was the one who probably knew his way around there better.

Lorraine shrugged. “Something simple would be fine – although I am kind of hungry” she admitted. “How about an omelet with a slice of bread?”

“Sounds good to me” Marty replied. “Do you want something to drink with that?”

“Well, considering how you reacted to my liquor earlier, I’m all right with a simple glass of apple juice” Lorraine said, smiling at the awkward look on her boyfriend’s face. “Think you can manage that?”

“Easily enough” Marty promised. “What are you going to do in the meantime?”

The girl shrugged. “Perhaps I could watch some television” she said, casting a glance at the TV that seemed to have been stuck on the same place for the last thirty years, although a second look at it told Marty that it was, in fact, a different set. “See if it’s interesting.”

Marty grinned. “Oh, I’m sure you’ll like it” he said. “There’s a _lot_ that has changed. Here, let me show you.”

He walked over to the television with her, and as Lorraine sat down on the couch, Marty took the remote control before sitting down next to her. He then turned the TV on, and watched satisfied as Lorraine’s eyes turned wide at seeing the color image.

“You switch between channels with these buttons, and adjust volume with these” he said, pointing to the remote as he did so. Lorraine nodded understandingly. “The red button turns it off. If you need any help just call me, but I think you’ll manage.”

“I hope so” Lorraine said. She started focusing on the television and Marty, seeing she could work it out on her own, stood up and made his way back to the kitchen. Before getting there, he paused and looked around the corner, staring back at Lorraine. As she noticed him looking, she smiled and blew him a kiss. Marty’s heart fluttered and with a smile on his face he went off to work.

oooooooo

It soon turned out to be fairly easy both for Marty to prepare their breakfast and for Lorraine to find her way through the channels, which she continued doing even after they got down to lunch. Nevertheless, throughout the meal, the young couple did share occasional looks, and Lorraine couldn’t help being happy. Given their previous dinner at the Baines house, this wasn’t the first meal they shared, but this time they were alone together, and more importantly, Marty, rather than trying to ignore her loving looks at him, was casting looks right back.

Around the time their meal was ending, Lorraine came across a channel talking about ‘President Reagan’. She stared at Marty, surprised. “Is that supposed to be a joke?” she asked.

Marty grinned. “You’re reacting the same way Doc was” he told her. “Nope – Reagan’s our president.”

“That does remind me,” Lorraine pondered. “You know, I was kind of looking forward to getting to vote next year – and now you know in advance who’s going to win.”

Marty smirked. “Well, I’m not a history buff” he pointed out. “I probably know the most important elections, but I haven’t got a clue who’ll become the governor or the mayor. I barely know who’s governor _now_.”

Lorraine shrugged. “It’s no big deal anyway” she said.

An awkward silence dawned, which Marty finally decided to break. “So,” he said, “now what? Wait for Doc?”

“Boring” Lorraine opined. “Why don’t we try to find out where our other selves live? See if we can meet them.”

Marty looked at her in bewonderment, then laughed. “You really are an adventurous girl, aren’t you?” he said, grinning. “All right, but how? I don’t know their address or phone number, and I can’t ask Doc. He’d forbid us to go for sure.”

Lorraine nodded. “Why don’t you look in the cabinet underneath the phone?” she pointed out. “Most people put a list of their friends’ phone numbers there. And I do think that we’re still friends with him in the future.”

“The _present_ , Lorrie” Marty reminded her. “It’s 1985 now. But yeah, that sounds realistic.” He walked over to the phone and opened the top cabinet drawer. After just a few seconds of looking through his friend’s stuff, he took out a small notebook. “This looks like it.”

“Are we listed?” Lorraine wanted to know.

“Just a moment…” Marty muttered, looking through the pages. “Ah, here. ‘Marty and Lorraine, 555-327436.’ But no address.”

Lorraine groaned. “ _So_ close.”

Marty nodded, and then slowly began to smile. He took the horn off the hook and started to dial a number. Lorraine gasped. “You can’t do that!” she exclaimed. “What if one of… you know, one of our kids answers? And they don’t know about time travel?”

“I’ll just ask them if their parents are home” Marty said, seemingly calm as he continued to dial. “ _Our_ parents, since I’m one of… our kids… as well.”

“You seriously want to risk talking to one of us?”

The male teenager shrugged, although Lorraine could detect he wasn’t as calm as he tried to make her believe she was. “Well, if you put your mind to it, you can accomplish anything.”

Lorraine nodded nervously, and anxiously stared at him as he waited. After roughly twenty mind wrecking seconds, Marty tensed up. He started to speak a few times, swallowed, and finally blurted out: “Uh, hi, Mom.”

Lorraine felt close to fainting already.


	14. Meeting The Future

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Marty and Lorraine interact with their future selves. They have a lot to talk about.

_October 26, 1985_  
_10:45 AM PDT  
_ _Hill Valley, California_

Marty’s heart was beating nervously, as he suddenly realized what he’d been doing. This was nuts. He was talking to his mother, to his girlfriend and wife, or in any case to a version of Lorraine from the future. What should he do? What could he do?

Well, there wasn’t any way out now. “Hi, Mom” he repeated.

“Hi, Marty” 1985 Lorraine replied. She sounded older than her younger self – which was only natural – but clearly distinct from the woman that had been his mother only a week ago. Added to that, she sounded nervous too – after all, she probably knew that her son was supposed to leave for 1955 this night. If he was still there, something must have gone wrong.

And now it was up to him to reassure her. “Mom,” Marty said, slowly, occasionally glancing at a much tenser 1955 Lorraine sitting opposite him, “do you know whom you’re talking to?”

“I… hope so” 1985 Lorraine finally replied.

“Flux capacitor” Marty said. Then, realizing a better way to convince her, he added: “Love potion.”

The sigh of relief was almost audible. “Marty, why are you calling me?” 1985 Lorraine asked. “Why are you here in 1985? And who is else is there? Are you with…” A nervous pause. “…me?”

“That’s right” Marty confirmed, wondering whether he should call her ‘Mom’ or ‘Lorraine’. There were probably arguments for both sides. “We wanted to come over and visit you. You would like to know what kind of place we live in, and how we’re doing out here.”

“Can’t Doc tell you that?” 1985 Lorraine said.

“He can, but he might not want to” Marty replied, wondering how much this Lorraine was like his previous mother. “To quote you, don’t be such a square! Why can’t we come over?”

1985 Lorraine hesitated for a while, and finally sighed. “All right” she said. “We live at 1832 Mason Street. It’s in the outer edge of Hill Valley.”

“I know” Marty said, mentally whistling. By 1985, Mason Street had become one of Hill Valley’s ‘richer’ streets, featuring some big houses. If his older self lived there, it was a clear sign that they were well off. “See you in about fifteen minutes.”

“See you then, Marty” 1985 Lorraine replied, nervously. She hung up, and Marty did the same.

“Well?” 1955 Lorraine asked, nervously looking up to him.

She relaxed as Marty grinned. “Looks like we can be off to see the future now.”

oooooooo

It turned out to be fairly easy for them to sneak past the garage Doc was working in, especially as, from what they saw by looking through the windows, he seemed to be fairly focused on one particular invention. Marty thought it looked a bit like the mind reader from 1955 – now wouldn’t that be ironic. He related the story to Lorraine, who chuckled at it and agreed that it would be ironic for Doc to resume working on that after a thirty year ‘interruption’ due to the time machine building.

They got to Mason Street in a little over fifteen minutes, mostly due to Marty going wrong roads once, as well as Lorraine staring at everything that had changed since her time. Marty also complained about how he hadn’t had a chance to fetch his skateboard, but Lorraine reminded him how that would have been an impossibility – the skateboard was in Doc’s lab, and everything in Doc’s lab had been inaccessible to them if they wanted to carry out the plan as they had prepared it.

When they finally reached 1832 Mason Street, both Marty and Lorraine gawked at what they were seeing. Their house looked more like Doc’s mansion than the place either of them had lived in before. “Wow” Marty finally mumbled. “Looks like we’re pretty well off.”

“It certainly does” Lorraine agreed, beaming. “Look at that garden! It looks like it’s filled with almost every flower in existence!”

“Bit of an exaggeration there, Lorrie” Marty pointed out. “But yeah, it’s very pretty.” He stared awkwardly at her. “So… what now? Walk up and ring the bell?” He winced. “I’m about as nervous as I was when we first dated” he muttered.

Lorraine put a hand on his shoulder. “It’ll be fine” she assured him. “I’m not looking ahead to this either, but… perhaps they’ll stay inside. Then we won’t have to face them.”

“Perhaps” Marty agreed, nervously. Then, he shook his head. “No, better if we face this head-on. If you put your mind to it, you can accomplish anything.” He started walking up to the door.

Lorraine smiled at that. “Did Doc Brown teach you that?” she asked.

Marty nodded, turning to her for a moment. “Yeah… although I have a hard time remembering it sometimes” he admitted. “I know it’s true, but…”

Lorraine would never find out what Marty was about to say then. He turned back to the door he was walking to, which opened up just then. An older man stepped out, whom Lorraine took just a split second to recognize as Marty, only 30 years older. Her boyfriend was quicker, though – she had barely noticed 1985 Marty’s presence when 1955 Marty staggered back, his breath shortening.

Realizing what was happening, she rushed up and caught him before he could faint. “Marty!” she pleaded. “Sweetheart, don’t faint again! It’s all right, it’s all right…”

His face was pale, his eyes glassy, but eventually, Marty McFly got some life returning to him and his mouth, which had fallen open from shock, shut. “I saw myself” he whispered. “I – I’m old.”

“Thank you very much” a familiar voice sarcastically said. Marty’s eyes widened and he viciously stared away, but Lorraine couldn’t resist the temptation. She looked up and saw 1985 Marty, who was being tended to by a very familiar woman. She looked into 1985 Lorraine’s eyes only for a split second before her older self looked away, but it was enough to make her feel nearly as nauseous as Marty. She desperately willed herself to stay upright, even as her legs were shaking. If she fell, Marty would fall along with her.

After a while, the situation consolidated, and Lorraine felt confident to let Marty go and stand on his own. After taking a few more deep breaths, she looked up at her older self, this time carefully avoiding 1985 Lorraine’s eyes. It still felt weird, but she thought she could handle it.

“I hadn’t expected that” her other self said, causing her to freeze again – hearing her own voice was another blow she hadn’t had yet. “Are you all right?”

“We’re fine” 1955 Marty ensured her. “But shouldn’t you know this happened? Considering, you know, you’re from the future and all? I mean, from our future… my present… from 1985?”

“Theoretically, yes” 1985 Marty agreed. “I’m not sure what’s going on, but I only remember right now that we left 1955 through the lightning bolt, and we returned afterwards. Everything besides that is a total blank.”

“That’s no good” 1955 Lorraine said, wringing her hands. “Does that mean it’ll be the same for us when we return? Or will the memories not catch up to you until after we go… or not at all?”

“I don’t know” 1985 Lorraine confessed. “If only Doc were here… but perhaps this situation would be too difficult even for him. After all, Marty’s not originally native to 1955, further complicating the matter.”

“He still hasn’t figured everything out yet, then?” 1955 Marty said, smirking. “Even after thirty years of time travel?”

“Hey, Doc isn’t perfect” 1985 Lorraine said. “But I think we’ve got most of the eventualities that happen with time travel covered.”

“Yeah, I believe we do” her husband said. “I’d have to check with him, but…” 1985 Marty looked awkwardly towards his counterpart. “Do you mind if we have a word together, younger me?”

1955 Marty blinked. “Why?” he asked.

“I’ll explain to you in a minute” 1985 Marty ensured him. “Why don’t you show your younger self around the garden, dear? I bet she’d like it.”

“Certainly” 1955 Lorraine said, grinning. “It’s very romantic. And I’d love to know all about our future.”

“I’d tell you everything if not for the chance of Doc finding out about it” her older self said. “I could still pass on a few tiny details, though. Come on, let’s go for a walk.”

1955 Lorraine nodded, stared at Marty for a few seconds, and then followed her future self. She now took a good look at the way she looked in the future, being mindful to avoid her eyes. 1985 Lorraine was… well, pretty much how she wanted to look in the future. Not a teenager anymore for sure, and more of an adult, but there was still some mischievous sparkle in her eyes. She looked pretty good, especially for 47 – if she’d had to guess, she would have estimated that future her was around 30, perhaps 35 at most.

When she said that aloud, her counterpart smiled. “Looks like the rejuvenations I took in the future worked” she said.

“You went to the future – further to the future – for that?” 1955 Lorraine said, awed. “It’s absolutely amazing. I wish I could live here – or there, of course.”

Her older self chuckled. “Well, you can visit the 1980s whenever you like” she pointed out. “And you know why you and Marty can’t move here. We made it through the past thirty years fine – you should, too.”

1955 Lorraine nodded warily. “Yeah, I guess so” she muttered. “How’s your marriage doing? Doc said we were still happily married after all those years, but…”

“You wanted to hear it from a firsthand source” 1985 Lorraine finished, knowing herself all too well. “We’re doing fine – although just this morning, Marty complained about getting his memories back – from this timeline.” She stared around nervously. “I really hope he won’t start raising a fuss about our relationship again… I mean, given that he’s partly becoming our son, I’d understand, but…”

Her younger self nodded. “I know” she mumbled. “Just this morning, Marty reacted the same way. I – I don’t know if I can do this. Date him. Of course I’m fond of him. Marty’s the best thing that ever happened to me. But I don’t know if he, deep down, truly loves me back.”

“Let’s talk about other things” 1985 Lorraine said, patting her counterpart on the back. “Just a minute ago, you were burning with questions for me.”

“I’ve still got them” Lorraine said, smiling. “So, we’re married – when did that happen?”

Her older self hesitated for a moment, then shrugged. “If you promise you’ll be careful not to hint to Doc that you know…” Lorraine nodded. “October 26th, 1959.”

Lorraine whistled. “That’s four years in the future” she whispered. “I can’t believe that I’m going to be a bride at the age of 21.” She chuckled, remembering the events of that night. “Marty said I should use this dress as my wedding dress.”

Her counterpart chuckled. “Yeah, I believe my Marty raised that idea a few times as well” she said. “I almost ended up doing it, but I chose the traditional white gown in the end. Marty complained about it for a while, but you should have seen him when I walked down the aisle.”

1955 Lorraine smiled. “I’m glad he still thinks I’m beautiful after all those years” she said, sighing as she remembered it was getting them right back on the topic they were trying to avoid. “So, didn’t Dad disown you?”

1985 Lorraine shook her head. “Nah. He was grumpy for a while, complaining about Marty, but Marty made a real effort to reconcile with him. They never became friends, but he still accompanied me to the wedding, and when I kissed Marty, I think I saw a tear in his eye. He’s never admitted it to me, though.”

1955 Lorraine smiled again, knowing how her father could be. “What are our kids like?”

“Well, I really don’t want to tell you too much about them” 1985 Lorraine said. “Some things I don’t mind, but this…” She shrugged. “I can tell you that we have seven kids – counting Marty – of which three are girls.”

“That’s amazing” her younger self whispered. “I mean, I’ve always wanted kids – provided I had a really cute husband, of course – but seven! Even our parents don’t have seven children. Which reminds me, what about the baby Mom’s pregnant with?”

“A girl” 1985 Lorraine told her. “Ellen. It would have been cool for you to meet her before she’s born, but she’s living in Elmdale at the moment, so we’ll have to save that for some other time.”

1955 Lorraine nodded. “I understand” she said. “So… do we become good parents?”

“Well, I’m hardly objective, but I’d certainly like to think so” 1985 Lorraine said. “They all seem to be happy and healthy. Of course, part of that is due to access to future medicine, but I think they would have been great kids even without that. None of them is married yet, although David – he’s the oldest – is seriously dating a girl right now, and Doc’s confirmed to me that they’re getting married.”

“Do they know?” 1955 Lorraine asked.

Her counterpart grinned. “No, we haven’t told them. There’s nothing better than keeping a secret from your kids that they should know before we do.”

1955 Lorraine considered that for a moment. “I can imagine” she finally decided. “Can I speak to them? Get a second opinion on the way you’re parenting them?”

1985 Lorraine laughed. “Well, you’d have to be careful, since Calvin – the youngest – doesn’t yet know about time travel” she warned herself. “Of course, Marty also didn’t know, but he’s gone, so…”

1955 Lorraine noticed the wistful sigh on her counterpart’s face, and felt sorry for her. In essence, by taking Marty as a boyfriend, she was robbing her future self from her son. It was an odd situation, but nevertheless, she felt compassion for her counterpart.

Just as she realized that, Marty’s older self called out to her. “Marty’s got something to tell you” he informed her.

Lorraine nodded, puzzled. “We’ll be right there” she said, before patting her older self on the back. “You know, we never got around to you explaining the garden to me.”

1985 Lorraine smiled faintly. “You’re right” she replied. “Well, it mostly explains itself. And I hope you’ve gotten the information you wanted, and I’d think that would be more valuable to you than a look around our garden.”

As she agreed with her counterpart’s statement, Lorraine felt her mind wandering off, not to her future self’s sadness but rather to the puzzling statement Marty’s older self had made. What would Marty want to tell her in front of their older selves? She shrugged. She supposed she would find out soon enough.


	15. True Love's Kiss

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Continuation of the last chapter, as the Marty's come to a new conclusion together.

_October 26, 1985_  
_11:05 AM PDT  
_ _Hill Valley, California_

Marty looked after the Lorraines as they wandered off. Keeping his gaze fixed on them, he remained quiet for a while and listened only to the chirping birds. It was only when his older self let out a short, but audible cough that he turned around.

“You wanted to talk” he said, looking awkwardly at 1985 Marty’s shoulder – and how doubly awkward was it to think of himself as being ‘the Marty from 1955’ – to avoid his future self’s face. “So, talk.”

1985 Marty nodded, and cleared his throat. “It’s about Lorraine” he began.

“I never would have guessed” his younger self replied, dryly. “So, what about her? Are you unhappy in your relationship? Because you know I can change little about that anymore.”

Older Marty shook his head vigorously. “Quite the opposite, actually” he replied. “Lorraine and I are very happy together, and we’ve got great kids, a nice house, a good job – everything’s perfect. The only thing that troubles me is that the early years weren’t all that well, and that’s a nasty memory to live with. So understandably, I’d like that changed.”

“I can see that” Marty said. “What’s on your mind?”

His older self stared intensely at him. “You remember how, when Lorraine and I met and even after that potion took effect, we didn’t exactly jump with joy at the prospect of us dating.”

“No kidding” Marty deadpanned. “What would you expect? Lorraine was – is – might be – my mother, after all. It’s just that… she’s very special to me too. I can’t describe it, but I just love her.”

“I know” 1985 Marty replied. “And you know. But I’m not sure if she knows.”

His younger self snorted. “Then she hasn’t been listening” he pointed out. “I’ve told her several times.”

“Yes, you have” 1985 Marty admitted. “But you acted quite contrarily to that afterwards, didn’t you? Heck, I could see it just now. You’re still somewhat nervous around her.”

“Well, aren’t I entitled to be?” Marty protested. “This is a special relationship, after all.”

“I know” 1985 Marty said. “It’s just that you have to make a choice here. Pro or anti Lorraine, and then don’t confuse her by backing off the next morning. Poor Lorrie won’t know what she should think about you – about us. About what we really feel for her.”

Marty sighed, nodding. “I know” he muttered. “It’s just that I… of course I love her. But sometimes, I’m reluctant to go all the way, like this morning. You can’t expect me to change in just a day. I’m sure even Lorraine wouldn’t expect that from me.”

“That’s right” his older self agreed. “But even so…” He frowned. “What happened this morning?”

1955 Marty shrugged, somewhat embarrassed. “I woke up thinking it had all been a dream” he explained. When I realized that it hadn’t… well, I didn’t take it very well. Lorraine really had to spend some effort to calm me down.” He shrugged. “I suppose I get what you mean. I really upset her then.”

“That’s exactly what I meant” 1985 Marty agreed. “If you’re going to treat Lorraine like a freak, and handle your relationship that way… Marty, just because you’re seeing us together now doesn’t mean that’s going to be the same way forever. You can still break up.”

His younger self frowned. “Did Doc tell you that?” After the affirmative nod, he shrugged. “Well, I guess you’re right. I… I do love her. Man, do I ever love her… but perhaps I’m not convincing enough.”

“If you’re not, that’s your own fault” 1985 Marty pointed out. “Because, though you just said you do love her and I believe you do, perhaps you yourself don’t entirely believe. Perhaps part of you isn’t willing to commit yet.”

His younger self nodded, embarrassed. “I’m trying to get it to go away” he said. “I want to accept this relationship, but some part in my brain…” He looked up at his older self, finally confronting him at last. “Are we really happy together?”

“Yes, we are, and yes, you are making the right choice” older Marty said, sighing. “Marty, Lorraine’s the best thing that’s ever happened to me… to us. Period. I don’t think I could ever have loved Jennifer the way I love Lorraine now. Even with all the same benefits that come with having regular access to time travel, it wouldn’t have been the same. And yes, the potion has long worn off by now.”

“But she…” 1955 Marty tried to cut in.

“She loves us too” 1985 Marty replied. “Haven’t you noticed, Marty? She’s head over heels for you. Try to imagine. A girl, a beautiful girl, who could have every boy in Hill Valley, who has indeed been dating many of them – gave up all of that for you. For us. Lorraine never fell as hard for anyone as she did for you that Saturday, and that’s not just the Florence Nightingale effect. Marty, your girlfriend is willing to commit everything to you, just because you mean everything to her. Heck, she’s giving you _life itself_. Unconditional love would be the least we can do to make it up to her.”

“You’re right” Marty choked, getting somewhat emotional as he thought of his older self’s words. “But she could be doing that partly as a sense of duty. And because she doesn’t want me to die.”

“Oh yes, I’m sure that played a part in convincing herself to continue your relationship” older Marty said. “But do you really think that she could do all that just for duty? Just out of feeling sorry and not wishing you to die? She might, but then her heart wouldn’t be in it. Do you think she’d be a quarter as emotional or loving as she is now if she were doing it out of duty? And think about this.” Marty’s older counterpart let his voice lower. “You’re passionate and loving to her because you have had an immense overdose of Doc’s love potion, and we both know how strong that stuff is. Lorraine hasn’t had a drop.”

Marty frowned. “I hadn’t thought about that yet” he admitted. “I knew she was obsessed with me, but I thought it was freaky… but she really does love me all that much, right?” His voice wavered. “Oh man!”

“Marty?” Marty’s future self asked, reluctantly.

His counterpart looked up, tears in his eyes. “All right, that’s _it_!” he exclaimed. “I’m done with hesitating or doubting my feelings! Lorraine is the love of my life, period! And nothing is going to get me away from her again!”

“Now that’s the spirit!” 1985 Marty said, smiling.

“I feel so guilty” 1955 Marty mulled. “For… for neglecting her. For _rejecting_ her. What can I do to make it up for it? Will she accept it if I do?”

“Young me, calm down!” 1985 Marty exclaimed. “All right, I know exactly what you need to start with. You know Lorraine likes flowers, right?”

“Almost all girls do” 1955 Marty said, thinking for a moment about how Jennifer used to love flowers, then guiltily rejecting those thoughts – and wasn’t it strange how guilt now started to come when he didn’t love Lorraine _enough_ – and returning to the subject at hand. “But I don’t know which to give.”

“That’s natural” 1985 Marty assured him. “But I’m prepared for this. I’ve got a bunch of flowers collected this morning from the garden, all of those Lorraine’s favorites. They’re in the kitchen. Why don’t you go fetch them, while I’ll go get your girlfriend.”

1955 Marty nodded eagerly, and rushed into the house, still a bit nervous as he entered his future self’s mansion. The house was huge, and well-decorated. On the walls were nice family pictures of what he presumed to be his future self and Lorraine, and their kids. Marty was taken aback at the resemblance they had with either him or Lorraine.

Trying to ignore the strange wonders around him, Marty headed into the kitchen and smiled appreciatively as he saw the flowers. They looked beautiful indeed. Hiding them behind his back, he made his way to the exit of the house.

Lorraine was standing there smiling nervously at him, and Marty’s heartbeat could be heard in his throat. She looked as beautiful as she had just after he’d swallowed the potion, the prettiest girl in the world, _his_ girl. He was tempted to run up to her and hug her on the spot, but restrained himself. First things first.

He slowly made his way up to her, stopping when they were only a few feet away from each other. Marty looked at the ground for a while, but finally stared into his fiancée’s eyes.

“Lorraine” he began, hoarsely, “as you know, when I woke up this morning, I initially rejected you and hurt you with that. I’d like to apologize.”

Lorraine smiled warmly at him. “Thank you” she replied. “But that’s really not necessary, Marty. I understand you didn’t mean it.”

“It is necessary, Lorraine” Marty insisted. His girlfriend looked at him confused, allowing him to go on. “Lorraine, you mean the world to me. You’re the most beautiful girl I could ever wish for and – with help of my future self – I realized that I didn’t appreciate enough how incredibly lucky I am to have you.”

Lorraine blushed. “Marty…”

“I could go on and on about how much I love you and not a word of that would be exaggeration” Marty continued. “But that’s fruitless, because I would be spending my entire day on that. Therefore, I’d like to apologize again, sincerely, for what I did this morning, and ensure you that it won’t happen again. I won’t even consider not dating you anymore. And to prove that, I’d like to present you with something.”

He took out the flowers, and Lorraine gasped at them. “Lorraine Baines,” Marty continued, “I know I’ve already asked you this and since I don’t have a ring yet I’m going to have to ask you again. Nevertheless, I could ask you this seven times and mean it every single occasion.” He knelt down on his knee, taking her right hand in his while simultaneously presenting her with the flowers. “Lorraine Stella Baines, will you marry me?”

For a moment, Lorraine remained still, taking it all in. Then tears started running down her cheeks and she lifted Marty up, taking the flowers from him and hugged him, all but jumping into her boyfriend’s arms. “Yes, of course” she whispered, emotionally. “Any day of my life.”

They smiled at each other, their love now definitely confirmed, and as Marty opened his mouth Lorraine immediately but gently put hers against his. They kissed, kissed for the so-manieth time but with a passion that they hadn’t yet displayed before. This was the most beautiful moment of his life, and Marty didn’t want it to end.

They didn’t part, either. Where normal kisses ended after ten seconds, or even twenty, Lorraine and Marty kept their arms around and their lips firmly pressed against each other. They didn’t want to part. This kiss was the best they could ever have and parting would only decrease their happiness together.

Minutes might have passed. If not for the continued presence of his future selves, Marty would have thought hours might have passed, but they remained rooted on the spot, smiling at their younger selves as the couple occasionally noticed while glancing briefly with the corner of an eye at them before returning to the real important subject, each other.

But suddenly, Marty noticed, that smile on their faces faded, and was replaced by a look of worry. Marty dismissed it and paid it no attention for a while, until he heard someone clearing her throat and audibly saying: “Marty?”

Even through the passion of their kiss, that voice reached Marty’s hearing system and once it was there, it gulfed through his brain like fire. He knew that voice. He would know it anywhere.

Finally breaking the kiss, Marty parted, and loosened himself from the embrace as well, although he kept Lorraine’s hand firmly squeezed in his. With that, he turned to look at the girl whom he easily recognized, even though she looked a lot angrier than he’d ever seen her, including the day before his departure from 1985.

It was his ex-girlfriend, Jennifer Parker.


	16. Onwards To The Future

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Final chapter of this story, and although it ends with a cliffhanger I have no immediate plans to expand on it (I do have some ideas for a sequel, but I just haven't been in a strong enough BTTF- and/or Marty/Lorraine-mood for a long time. I still ship it, though. Hope you liked this story, and if you didn't, please let me know. Please review in any case. And of course, happy November 12th!

_October 26, 1985_  
_11:20 AM PDT  
_ _Hill Valley, California_

Marty stared nervously at Jennifer, the girl whom he hadn’t seen in just a week and yet it seemed like a year ago when she dumped him. The girl whom he had fantasized about all week looked… surprisingly normal. She was pretty for sure, but she wasn’t comparable to Lorraine. Of course, none of that really mattered right now. From the look in Jennifer’s eyes, she wasn’t just going to walk up and beg him to date her again – she was mad at him.

Lorraine noticed his reaction to the girl, and soon came to the appropriate conclusion, paling herself as she did so. “Is that…” she whispered.

A nod was all she needed to get it confirmed. “Uh-oh.”

Jennifer walked over to Marty, icily calm. “Marty,” she began, “I seem to recall that yesterday, you mentioned that you weren’t cheating on me, didn’t you?”

Marty gulped. “That was yesterday” he pointed out. “We broke up in the meantime, didn’t we?”

Jennifer smiled at him. “Ah, I see. And while sleeping tonight, you just happened to find a nice girl which you didn’t only fall for, but also got so close to that you were willing to kiss her that passionately?”

Marty winced, trying to wreck his brain for a plausible explanation but discovering that there was no possible way for him to find one. He tried anyway. “Jennifer…” he began, nervously, “You see, last night I went to a bar because I was miserable after what happened between us. There, I met this old friend here from school and we really clicked right away and I got drunk and you see…”

“Really” Jennifer interrupted, still icy yet calm. “And why was it then that, when I called your Mom last night, she told me you were in your room and asleep? And she even _checked_ it for me?”

Marty winced again – of course, he couldn’t have known that. He shot his girlfriend’s future self an annoyed look before turning back to Jennifer. “I meant that just this morning, I had to go to the hospital and…”

“Martin Emmett Klein, is that really the best excuse you can come up with?”

“On such short notice – yeah” Marty honestly replied, frowning at the mention of his full name. “Jennifer…”

“You need to calm down” his older self advised her, stepping forwards and putting a hand on Jennifer’s shoulder, which she roughly shook off. “Marty can explain, really, but it’s… it’s a long story.”

“It is” Lorraine agreed. She then frowned, looking at her adversary. “What are you doing here, anyway? Marty told me you broke up with him.”

Jennifer glared at her. “Not that it’s any of your business, but I was here intending to apologize to Marty about being so mean to him yesterday” she said. “I had thought that I’d exaggerated and let my temper show too much. Now, though, I know that I was only guessing at half the lying and cheating Marty had done!”

As Marty was about to answer that, the sound of an engine could be heard. As he looked up, the teen could see the DeLorean come roaring down the street, entering the Klein driveway chaotically and knocking over a few garbage cans.

“There go hours of work” 1985 Lorraine complained.

Doc opened the gull-wing door, shaking his head. “Marty! Lorraine! I believe I told you not to look yourselves up! Do you realize how much you freaked me out when I found out you were missing? Thankfully, I could track you down through the phone’s memory… but I don’t think this is serious for you two, is it?”

“Uh, Doc…” Marty tried.

“Not now Marty, I’m talking. I understand you wanted to have a look around and I don’t mind you seeing a few changed things, but this…” Doc sighed, frustrated. “You could have caused a time paradox if you encountered your other self and fainted!”

“Doc…” Lorraine attempted.

“No, you two _will_ listen to me! It is absolutely essential that you get back to the past once all of this is done! And now get in, let’s go to the future before someone sees us or…”

At that point, the inventor froze, finally realizing the presence of a still angry, but also highly confused Jennifer. “Great Scott!”

“That’s what we were trying to tell you, Doc” Marty said, softly.

Doc frowned at him. “Go ahead, rub salt into the wound” he muttered. “Uh, miss Parker? Jennifer?”

Jennifer stared at him. “What on earth were you just talking about, Doctor Brown?”

Doc sighed, thinking hard. “I might explain later. Would you mind telling me what you’re doing here? Marty told me you had broken up with him.”

“I have, but I regretted that later on” Jennifer explained. “I thus came here to apologize. I didn’t realize, though, that I had been right – and Marty was _kissing_ that girl there when I came here! He was making out with her for like, a full minute!”

“You saw them kissing?” Doc whispered, incredulously. Jennifer nodded. “Great Scott!”

With Doc silenced and Jennifer still baffled, Marty took a step forwards, with Lorraine still clinging protectively to his hand. “Uh, Doc?” he asked. “Perhaps it might be better if we explain everything to Jennifer.”

His friend contemplated that for a second, seemed to reject it at first, but then nodded. “You may be right” he admitted. “After this, she might end up with a feud against you and your family, which we do not need at all. It might be better if we tell her the whole story.” He turned to Jennifer. “Jennifer, would you mind coming along with us? You’ll get your explanation then.”

As Marty and Lorraine widened their eyes – they hadn’t intended this, after all – Jennifer frowned. “I don’t know” she finally settled on. “Who says I can trust you? Doc, I’ve heard you’re a decent and nice person, but that’s… well, from Marty and his family. No offense, but after _this_ ” – her eyes narrowed again – “I am having a hard time trusting anyone anymore.”

“I understand that, Jennifer” Doc ensured her. “But it will be a quick ride. In less than three minutes, you will have your explanation.”

Jennifer still frowned, but was clearly contemplating it now. She glanced at the inventor, and then at 1985 Marty and Lorraine, who both nodded supportively. “All right” she finally decided. “But that explanation should come fast.”

“It will” Doc promised her. “Now for the rest of you – come on, into the car!”

Marty and Lorraine awkwardly started to move as well, Marty climbing into the passenger’s seat, but as Lorraine was about to climb in after him, Jennifer held her arm. “Hold it there” she announced. “Marty, can I sit on your lap? There isn’t enough room for all four of us.”

Marty was about to refuse when he looked into Jennifer’s eyes, which still carried some of the anger from before and a hidden message that he’d better not say ‘no’. “Uh, okay” he replied.

Satisfied, Jennifer climbed in and proudly positioned herself on Marty’s lap, smiling smugly at Lorraine, who was witnessing the scene with clear envy. Inwardly, Marty winced. How had he gone, within 24 hours, from a situation where he was single to one in which two women were fighting over him?

Either way, it didn’t matter. He’d already made his choice. Unseen by Jennifer, he reached out and briefly squeezed Lorraine’s hand. No matter how Jennifer would react to their story, they would stay together. Marty was sure of that.

In the meantime, Doc had shifted the car into reverse, and the DeLorean rapidly drove down the highway while its driver was simultaneously tapping in numbers. Marty could see the destination was for that very day thirty years into the future. He gulped, nervously. What would the future bring? Would he and Lorraine still be alive, and together? Would they have grandkids? And what would happen to Doc, and to Jennifer, and perhaps even to George McFly?

Those questions were briefly forgotten as the DeLorean stopped at the end of the road, and then started moving forwards, accelerating rapidly. The time machine passed the Klein mansion, giving Marty a brief glimpse of his ‘parents’ looking at them with an unreadable expression on their faces.

The speedometer rapidly climbed into the fifties, sixties and seventies. It was at the latter moment that Doc beamed at them. “Marty, Lorraine, Jennifer… brace yourselves for temporal displacement!”

As Marty did so, he once more reached out and tightly squeezed Lorraine’s hand, who returned the favor. He managed a faint smile at that. No matter what Jennifer could say, the future – and the past – were now definitely set for him, and nothing in the world could make him leave Lorraine. Utterly confident of that at least he gazed forwards to the windshield, as the DeLorean reached the familiar speed of 88 miles per hour and vanished into the future.

**THE END.**


End file.
